The All New Railway Series Shuffle
by ThomasZoey3000
Summary: The all new books of the Railway Series Shuffle, with a few changes from the original books that were written by me.
1. Thomas and the City of Tokyo

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 1**_

_**Thomas and the City of Tokyo**_

_**Based on the Original (2009) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Our dear friend, Thomas the Tank Engine was feeling a little grumpy as he was asked to go to Canada for a special event, thankfully he did calm after a while. However, a storm out on the ocean took our little blue friend to a different place, where magic and adventure and mysterious surprises are waiting round the next bend. When I finally got the chance to speak with Thomas, he told me all that has happened during his trip and now I am proud to share these stories with you._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Off Coarse

-Thomas and Primula

-The Friendly Group

-Courtney's Trouble with Trucks

-Saying Goodbye to Primula

_**Off Coarse**_

Thomas the Tank Engine was running nicely on his branch line. Annie and Clarabel were humming a little tune, the birds were singing and the sun was shining, life was great!

Soon Thomas rolled into Ffraquhar station on time as always. While the passengers were getting off, Thomas looked beyond the platform and saw a new set of lines already set up.

"Those workmen sure are working hard on the extension aren't they?" asked the fireman.

"They sure are," said the Driver, "those workmen have been doing a fantastic job ever since we heard about it. I just wonder..."

But he was cut off by someone clearing his throat, it was the Fat Controller standing near Thomas' cab.

"I wonder what I'm in trouble with now," thought Thomas to himself.

But the Fat Controller didn't look cross at all, in fact he looked more happy than cross.

"What can we do for you today sir?" asked the Driver.

"Nothing at all," he said, "I just came by to tell you that our Thomas has been asked to go to Canada, for one of those special 'Day Out with Thomas' events."

"Oh wow!" gasped the fireman, "he sure is a famous engine if he's being asked to go to Canada."

"Indeed," agreed the Fat Controller, "he is a celebrity all over the world."

The Driver happily agreed with the two men, I'm sorry to say however that Thomas did not.

"Oh botheration!" he grumbled, "I don't want to travel, I just want to stay home and work on my branch line!"

"Oh come on," said his Driver, "as I recall, when you were a young tank engine, you said you wanted to see the world and now you're telling me that you don't want to travel?"

"Can I really answer that?"

"Yes."

"Then my answer is, YES! I don't want to travel anywhere, especially not while there's all this construction work going on here."

"Well then," began the Fat Controller, "that's too bad, because I told them that I would send you there as soon as possible."

Thomas just groaned quietly. The guard's whistle blew and Thomas puffed away with an angry look upon his face.

Later that night when he got back to the sheds, Thomas was still feeling grumpy and he explained why to Daisy, Percy, Emily & Toby.

"I don't know why he couldn't have come to me before he told those people that I was coming."

"Maybe the Fat Controller just wanted to do you a small favour Thomas," said Percy, "besides you can't always get what you want."

"Quite right Percy," agreed Toby the Tram Engine, "you should be thankful that you are going to Canada, Thomas."

"What are you talking about Toby?"

"I'm saying that not all railroads speak the English language, so you probably won't be able to understand what they are saying and that could lead you into trouble."

"Indeed," Daisy cut in, "Hank told me about it, when I saw him at the junction."

"So you see Thomas," said Emily, "you should be grateful that the Fat Controller is sending to Canada, at least you'll get the chance to have some fun."

"Whatever!" huffed Thomas unhappily, "all I know is, is that I won't be enjoying my stay there."

"Just try," smiled Percy, "and don't worry about Annie and Clarabel, I'll look after them."

"Thanks Percy."

Later on, all the engines were sleeping, except for Emily, who was working the late shift, well, all except for Thomas. He was having a terrible time trying to sleep, his mind was always taking him back to his trip to York.

"I'm not going to enjoy this trip," he thought to himself.

He kept on thinking about this trip, until at last, he grew so tired that he finally went off to sleep.

The next morning, the Driver and fireman arrived to get Thomas fired up and get ready to go to the docks.

"It's way too early," yawned Thomas, "can't I just have some time to sleep, please?"

"Sorry Thomas," said his Driver, "but the Fat Controller wants you at the docks right away."

Daisy was being prepared for the early morning train for the junction, she promised Thomas that she would tell the others that he said 'see you later'.

Thomas thanked her, then he set off on his way for the docks. He was still feeling a little sleepy, but he still kept on puffing.

"I don't think we've ever gotten up this early before," said the fireman.

"Maybe so, but we have worked during the night when we used to pull the post train. Right Thomas?"

Thomas didn't answer at all.

Before long, Thomas arrived at the docks, Salty was shunting trucks around the yards and Cranky the Crane was loading up a giant ship. Standing close by, was the Fat Controller.

"I'm glad to see you Thomas," he said, "I know it's a little early, but you are doing this railway proud. Now remember, have a good time and be a credit to our railway."

"I'll try my best sir," said Thomas, trying his hardest not to let out a huge yawn.

"That's a good engine."

The workmen soon got Thomas attached to Cranky's cables, then with a loud groan and some complaining from the big crane, Cranky lifted Thomas off the ground into the hall of the ship. Once on board, the ship sounded it's loud horn and soon they were on their way.

Thomas' crew fastened their engine down to make sure he wouldn't move around, then they went back up to join the other passengers, as it was the rules of the ship. Thomas was soon alone, with only the mice for company.

"Well, I'm going have to try my best," Thomas muttered to himself, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to make new friends and maybe hear stories of their old lines too. Maybe it won't be so bad."

The boat trip lasted for a long time and by the second day, poor Thomas was feeling lonely and miserable.

"Oh well," he thought, "not long now."

What Thomas didn't know, was that soon - his destination coarse, was about to become one big muddle.

The ship's captain could see a huge storm raging across the ocean, he was worried that the storm might cause a great deal of trouble.

"Send a message out to the passengers to please be careful," the captain told one of his crew members, "I have a feeling that we're heading into one of the biggest storms we have ever seen."

"On my way captain," said the first mate.

He sent out a message and sent some of the other crew members down into the cargo bay to make sure that everything would stay in it's place. But by then, they were already heading into the storm.

"This is going to a wild ride," groaned the captain.

Inside the cargo hold, the crew members were doing the best they could and making sure that nothing fell on Thomas. That however was easier said than done, as the ship was bouncing about like a ball hitting the ground.

"I don't think I like this," groaned Thomas.

"I've never seen a firece storm like this," said one of the crew members.

"I've seen many rough storms before, but I must admit that is one of the biggest storms I have ever seen," said another crew member.

"Hopefully our captain can get us out of this storm."

"I hope so too," agreed Thomas.

The storm continued on for quite a while, the captain was doing his best. Whilst he was trying to get out of the storm, he was losing his sense of direction. He had no idea that his ship was heading the wrong way to the wrong destination.

"All clear," the captain called after they left the storm behind, "we are out of the storm."

"You see," said the second crew member, "I knew the captain would get us out of that storm, he's a pro."

"Yep," agreed the first crew member.

They searched all through the cargo hold, searching for any signs of damaged cargo. Thankfully there wasn't. They left after a while and left Thomas alone with his mice.

"Guess I'll go to sleep until we arrive," and so Thomas closed his eyes and went off to sleep.

The next day around mid-day, the ship finally arrived at it's first destination. The crew members got Thomas attached to some cables and he was soon lifted out by a loud grumbling noise.

"Why do I always have to do the heavy work?" the crane snapped angerily.

"Oh well," Thomas thought to himself, "maybe he's just a little grouchy like Cranky."

As Thomas was being unloaded from the ship, his crew were coming out. The Driver was happy to finally arrive, while the fireman was looking sick.

"That storm made me feel sick," he groaned, "I think I lost my stomach out there."

"Don't worry," chuckled the Driver, "I'll buy you lunch later."

The crane lowered Thomas to the steel rails with a little thump! Still, Thomas didn't say anything, he just waited for the crew to get him fired up.

When his crew came over, they watched the ship leave, then the fireman lit Thomas' fire, but he was a little concerned.

"Are you sure we're in Canada?"

"I'm sure," said the Driver, "one of the crew members said we had arrived. Why do you ask?"

"Because this doesn't look like it. I mean if you look at the flag, it's not Canadian."

The Driver looked and sure enough, they didn't see a canadian flag, instead it was a japanese flag.

"Maybe they have a japanese engine here," said Thomas.

"It would have to be on a three foot gauge line, cause that's what the steam engines were," said the Driver.

"Even so," said the fireman, "I'm having the strangest feeling that we're in the wrong location."

"Maybe the captain lost his sense of direction while we were in that storm yesterday," said the Driver.

"That explains a whole lot," groaned Thomas, "but if this isn't Canada, then where did we end up?"

"Well, I never thought I would say this, but I think we are in the famous city of Tokyo, Japan."

"Tokyo, Japan?" cried Thomas and his fireman.

They were in shock, but more importantly, they were wondering why they were sitting on standard gauge tracks, but that will have to wait till the next story.

_**Thomas and Primula**_

Within a few minutes, a Man wearing a dark blue suit came walking up to the cab. He spoke to the crew, but he spoke in the japanese language, so they didn't know what he was saying.

"Excuse me," called Thomas, "but can you talk in English, we can't understand you."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said the Man in a heavy japanese accent, "I guess you haven't had the time to really learn our language. Anyways, I am glad to see our new shunting engine."

"Shunting engine? I'm sorry to disappoint you sir, but I'm not a shunting engine, I'm Thomas the Tank Engine." The man looked a little confused, "you know, from the television series...and the book series."

"Sorry, but I have never heard of you before."

"How is this possible?" Thomas thought to himself.

"Sorry, but we came here by mistake," said Thomas' Driver.

He explained everything about the storm and the captain's lost sense of direction out on the ocean.

"I see," he said after a while, "Well it can happen from time to time, I suppose. Still I am short one engine, so while I try to sort things out for you three, you are going have to work in the yards with Courtney."

"Who's Courtney?" Thomas asked kindly, "and if it's okay...can I ask what your name is?"

The man smiled, "Well Thomas, I'm the Man in the Suit, manager of the Little Tokyo Railroad and Courtney is our Japanese engine."

"Is she a three foot gauge engine?" asked the fireman.

"No," answered the Man in the Suit, "Courtney is our one and only standard gauge engine. As for the line, our tracks were supplied a few years back from the states, so we could operate the one and only standard gauge line, apart from the high speed train lines in the entire city of Tokyo."

Thomas was now amazed, "maybe this won't be a bad trip after all," he thought to himself.

"We'll be glad to pitch in and help," said the fireman, "but don't your coaches and trucks come with 'knuckle' couplings instead of what Thomas has?"

"Yes and no, we have both kinds of trucks, both sets come with both sets of couplings. Oh and I have been told that these trucks are friendly, so you don't need to bump them."

"Well that's different," said Thomas, then he heard the Man in the Suit chuckle quietly as he gave some instructions to Thomas' crew.

Thomas and his crew soon made their way to the shunting yards where all the trucks were waiting. They all looked at him...and smiled at him. Thomas smiled too, until he saw the japanese tender engine looking at him. She was a big engine with four front wheels, six driving wheels and two back wheels and came complete with smoke deflectors.

"Well, well, well," she chuckled, "this is suppose to be the shunting engine, I thought he was american and painted black."

"Your new engine isn't here yet," explained Thomas, "so I'll be working in the yards with you until he arrives and the little mess up has been cleared up."

"Whatever," she sniffed, "I don't care. I don't need a lot of help from a small engine like you."

"Are you sure? Cause the Man in the Suit told me that he was one engine short, so I guess you will need my help, like it or not."

Courtney snorted and huffed angerily away.

"Well," chuckled the Driver, "you sure have improved your attitude Thomas, you went from being all grumpy to being a happy engine again."

"All I really needed was some time to calm down and I got that on board the ship."

"That's good, now come on, let's get to work."

At first, when Thomas began shunting his trucks, he was worried that they would be horrid and make his shunting duties a misery. However as he shunted them, he soon found out that they were indeed well behaved like the Man in the Suit said.

"What do you think so far Thomas?" asked the fireman.

"Wonderful," he smiled, "I think this trip is going to be a good one."

Then Thomas noticed at the station platform, a young girl standing there and watching him work. She stayed for a minute, before she went off.

Thomas worked hard all day long, shunting carefully throughout the yards and putting them into many different trains. The Man in the Suit was watching from the platform and was indeed impressed.

"Very good Thomas," he said, "you have done a fantastic job, the best I've seen since this line was opened."

"Thank you sir."

"Now, I would like you and your crew to take a train of empty coal trucks to the warehouse distract and collect coal for you and Courtney. Now if you're not sure of where to go, ask the trucks."

"But how am I suppose to understand them if I don't know the japanese language?"

"Some of them speak english, all you need to do is ask."

After the Man in the Suit had left the yards, Thomas was backed onto a train of empty coal trucks.

"Excuse me," he called to the trucks, "but I need some help finding the warehouse distract, can you help me out?"

"Of course we can," smiled the first truck behind him, "we're always glad to help."

Thomas felt relieved at once and soon he was ready to go. The guard's whistle blew and Thomas puffed nice and slowly to the distract. The journey was a long one, but Thomas didn't mind.

The journey went past a huge shopping distract and past some neighbourhoods, then past a city park before it came to the city's main business distract and into the shops of the warehouse distract.

"We're here to collect the coal," called one of the other trucks.

"These sure are nice trucks," smiled Thomas, "I'm glad to be working with them."

The workmen wasted no time in loading the trucks with coal, using the help of a small crane.

"Are you new here?" the crane asked in the english language.

"I'm a visitor to be honest," said Thomas, "my name is Thomas."

"Nice to meet you," smiled the crane, "my name is Masuko, I'm actually new here myself. I was bought from a small company from the states a few months ago and I came to work here three weeks ago...don't know why."

"Maybe the captain of your ship lost his sense of direction like mine did."

"There's a high possibility, you never know."

Thomas smiled, he liked talking to this little crane.

Soon all the coal was loaded onto his trucks and he was ready to go back to the yards. As he rolled along down the line, Thomas spotted the same little girl watching him from the shopping distract.

"That's the second time I've seen her," he thought to himself, "she seems friendly, maybe I'll get my chance to meet her."

"Have you noticed?" asked the fireman, "that this line doesn't have that many crossings? In fact, the only crossings I have seen are threw the city streets of Tokyo."

"I was wondering that myself," said the Driver.

Thomas in the meanwhile wasn't thinking about the lack of level crossings, instead he was thinking about the young girl.

When they arrived at the yards, Thomas shunted his trucks into a siding, then Courtney departed with trucks full of cargo from the ships. The Man in the Suit came up to speak to them, "well done Thomas, you are doing a good job. Now I came by to tell you that you're going have to stay here for a while, as our new engine hasn't shown up yet and we can't in contact with the captain of the ship he's on."

"That's okay sir," smiled Thomas, "I don't mind, I quite like working here."

"Sir," called the Driver, "the fireman and I have noticed that you don't have many level crossings on this line."

"Oh, well that's because the ground is too bumpy for roads, hence why the railroad was put into place here."

The next day, Thomas worked hard and did a fantastic job, which made Courtney jealous. Thomas didn't care what she thought at all, he proud to be doing a good job.

Then at around lunchtime, Thomas was parked in a siding beside the station, while his crew was treating to lunch by the Man in the Suit. As he waited for his crew to return, Thomas got the chance to meet the young girl as she walked up towards him.

The young little girl had light purple hair with two pink tails and she had a small toy cat in her arms. Plus she had pointy ears, but Thomas hadn't noticed them yet.

"Hello there," he said in a friendly way, "my name is Thomas, what's yours?"

"My name is Primula," she said in a quiet, shy way.

At that moment, a young boy with black hair and a teenage girl with orange hair walked up beside her, "I'm sorry," she said quietly, "I just wanted to see the blue engine."

"It's okay Rimu," said the orange haired girl.

"Wait," interupted Thomas, "I thought her name was Primula."

"It is," said the boy, "but some of us call her 'Rimu', it's a little nickname she has."

"Okay I understand. Oh and I'm Thomas the Tank Engine, I'm honored to meet you two."

"It's nice to meet you Thomas," said the girl, "I'm Kaede Fuyou."

"And I'm Rin," said the boy.

It was then, the Man in the Suit and Thomas' crew returned from lunch, "ah," smiled the Man in the Suit, "it's good to see you three again, I see you've already met Thomas."

"We have," said Kaede, "he is a friendly engine."

"He is indeed, and he's already proven quite a useful engine, even if he is visiting us until I make arrangements for him to go back to his railroad."

"There's no need to rush sir," said Thomas, "I don't mind working on a fine railroad like yours and maybe I can get to know my new friends a little more."

"We would like that," smiled Kaede.

"Okay then," said the Man in the Suit, "but this is only for a while Thomas, until my new engine arrives."

Thomas happily agreed, then he set off back to work.

Throughout the entire day, Thomas shunted more and more trucks around the yards and took more than five trains to the warehouse distract.

At the end of the day, Thomas was parked inside the sheds where his new friends were waiting for him.

"We hope you don't mind if we talk to you for a bit," said Kaede.

"I don't mind at all," smiled Thomas, "you're more than welcome into the sheds tonight."

Rin and Kaede smiled happily, while Primula stayed quiet with a small frown on her face.

For almost an hour, Rin and Kaede told Thomas some of their stories and a bit about their lives in the city, until it was time for them to go. They all promised to visit Thomas as often as they could and promise to introduce him to more of their friends. Thomas was indeed looking forward to their next visit.

_**The Friendly Group**_

Thomas was settling very nicely in the Little Tokyo's yards, the trucks and coaches were always arranged in their proper sidings, knuckles and chains in all. The deliveries were always on time and there were no compliants, which made the Man in the Suit very happy, despite not having his new tank engine on the railroad.

The trucks and coaches were indeed good company, especially as the trucks were different from the trucks on Sodor. Thomas however enjoyed the occasionial visit from his new friends, Rin, Kaede and Primula.

"Have you all lived here all your lives?" Thomas asked.

"Rin and I have," answered Kaede, "Rimu moved in with us a month ago."

"Really?"

"Yes," she answered in her quiet way.

The only one who didn't like Thomas being around in the city of Tokyo was Courtney the Japanese Engine as she complained bitterly about Thomas being in the yards, but no-one really payed any attention to her. Well, all except her crew.

"I don't like him," she sniffed.

"And why is that?" asked her Driver.

"He's just becoming too popular around here. If this keeps he'll never want to leave and we'll be stuck with him all the time."

"But you must admit," said her fireman, "that Thomas sure has improved the yards since he came here. It might have been an accident, but I think it was a good thing for the railway."

"Well I'm sure the new engine can do the shunting better than this blue show-off."

Courtney's Driver and fireman decided to say no more on the subject, mostly cause they knew that Courtney was indeed a stubborn engine.

Thomas was enjoying his stay on the Little Tokyo's line and talking with his friends, but he was missing his home.

"Don't worry Thomas," said his Driver, as they were pulling up to the warehouse distract with a train, "we'll be going home soon, uh...whenever the new engine arrives."

"Do you think I will get the chance to meet the new engine before I go?"

The fireman chuckled, "maybe we will, but who knows when that will be."

"Guess we'll have to wait and see," the Driver agreed happily.

Thomas chuckled quietly to himself as he rolled into the city's main business distract.

Soon he was having his trucks loaded up by Masuko and they were having a little talk about their homes, and in Masuko's case, he spoke about his old home for a while.

"All I was known was, was 'The Crane', so you can see why I like having a name."

"I can understand," smiled Thomas, "another engine friend of mine said that everyone should have a name, it makes you feel like one of the family."

"Yes, it feels great to have a name...say Thomas, did you know that some of the japanese names are also the names of flowers."

"You don't say," Thomas was interested, "can you tell me some of them?"

"Well there's the popular name 'Sakura', it's actually a cheery blossom, then there's 'Kaede', which is a maple tree."

Thomas was surprised when he heard that name, "I happen to have a friend named Kaede."

"You mean the beautiful orange haired girl with the red ribbon right?"

"You've seen her?"

"Yep, I've seen her. Although I don't get out of the shops very often, I do see her with some of her friends."

"Interesting," smiled Thomas, "so what about the other japanese names?"

"Well there's quite a few, granted I don't know them all but it's still quite a lot to name and would take a long time to tell. Still I'm sure that you'll learn about those names sooner than you think."

Thomas smiled as he watched Masuko load the last of his trucks, then with a blow of his whistle, Thomas set off back for the yards.

Once back at the yards, Thomas arranged his trucks in the dockyards and puffed back to the empty sidings, where Kaede and Rin were waiting for him.

"Hello you two," smiled Thomas, then he noticed four other girls behind them, "who are your friends?"

The four girls walked up to him, "I'm Sia," said the red haired girl.

"I'm Nerine," said the sky blue haired girl, "but you can call me Rina if you want."

"I'm Asa Shigure," said the green haired girl.

"And I'm Mayumi," said the grey haired girl.

"It's an honor to meet you all," then he asked, "I hope I'm not insulting you here, but I was wondering about the length of your ears."

Sia and Nerine knew Thomas was talking about their ears. They both smiled to each other, then they looked back to Thomas.

"Well Thomas," said Sia, "we're not from earth, we come from two different realms. I'm from the Realm of the Gods, you tell by the length of my ears, they are long, but they are still short."

"And I'm from the realm of the demons," said Nerine, "you can tell by the length of my ears, they are longer than Sia's ears."

"I see," said Thomas, a little puzzled.

"Our realms are alot like earth," said Sia, "but they are different, mostly because we can use magic and powers."

"But how did you come here?"

Nerine was more than glad to answer that question, "ten years ago, a portal was opened up to earth. It was sent from both of our realms as a way to come here to earth, ever since the people from both of our worlds have come here and even live here now. Sia, Rimu and I moved here a month ago, but living here feels like home to us."

Thomas just smiled as Nerine finished explaining.

"I think you forgot something Rina," said Mayumi, "you forgot to mention to Thomas that you and Sia are princesses."

"You're princesses?" Thomas asked in surprise.

"Yes," said Sia, "but we would like to be treated like any other teenage girl."

"I understand perfectly."

Then he looked over to Asa, she had a big smile on her face, "how long have you known Rin and Kaede?"

"I've known them for a few years," she smiled, "ever since Kaede came into the cooking club classroom in Junior High, we've been the best of friends ever since."

Then she walked up to Rin and slapped him on the back, which knocked him to the ground.

"That's a little harsh, isn't it?" Thomas' Driver asked.

"Not really," giggled Asa, "I always slap Rin on the back, just for fun."

Thomas was doing his best not to laugh, even Rin showed a small smile as he got back to his feet.

After a long day's work, Thomas puffed slowly into the sheds which he and Courtney shared. It wasn't a very big shed as it had only had ten stalls and a small turntable outside.

Courtney only scoffed angerily and looked away from Thomas.

"You know you should be a little nicer towards others, especially visitors. If you continue to keep up this little bad attitude of yours, then you'll never get any friends and you'll always be alone."

"I have my crew to talk to," she sniffed.

"Not if you're always being horrid to others, they'll eventually ingore you and that will cause trouble out on the rails."

Courtney didn't say anything back and so the sheds went silent again.

The next day, Thomas and Courtney were hard at work, either hauling goods to and from the warehouse distract or shunting the trucks in the main railyards or in the dockyards, where a giant crane stood above them. He didn't look friendly and didn't say anything to the two engines as he loaded and unloaded the trucks.

Everything was going like clockwork and the Man in the Suit was impressed.

"Well done you two," he said happily, "you actually completed all the work that needed to be done earlier than planned. You have both done me proud."

"Thank you sir," said the two engines in unison.

The engines were indeed pleased, especially Courtney. She looked over to Thomas with a small smile on her face, deep down though, Courtney was starting to wonder if maybe she was wrong about what she said about Thomas.

Later that night as the two engines were being brought into their sheds, they could see Kaede, Rin and the rest of their friends coming over to their sheds.

"Hello again my friends," smiled Thomas, "what brings you all here?"

"We're here to see you of course," giggled Asa, "we also brought along some food for your crews."

"Would that be okay?" asked Kaede.

"Sure it is," smiled Thomas.

"That food sure smells good," said the fireman with an excited tone in his voice.

So once the two engines were parked inside the sheds, the crews helped set up some boards in front of the engines and help with setting up the picnic blankets and setting up the food.

Then they all sat down to enjoy the food, and whilst they did that, Thomas told them some of his stories from Sodor. From misadventures, to the visiting engines like 'Stepney', 'Fling Scotsman' and even 'Wilbert'.

"Sounds like you've had some interesting adventures," said Rin.

"I guess so," Thomas chuckled.

"I've had an interesting adventure too," said Courtney. Everyone looked over to her in a surprised way, "it happened shortly after I arrived here on the railroad when I had my trouble with trucks."

Everyone went quiet as Courtney began her story about her incident with the trucks.

_**Courtney's Trouble with Trucks**_

A few years back, the people of Tokyo needed a new way of getting supplies from the dockyards to the main warehouse distract and back to the docks. At first, roads were put into place, sadly as time went on, there were a huge number of complints about damage caused to the supplies and people were all demanding for better services.

To add on top of the trouble, the lorries and cars were too slow in getting the supplies to their destinations on time. So the people decided to build a railroad which is the main railroad to this day. The Man in the Suit was placed in charge of the whole project as he ordered new tracks from the United States and watched and helped with the work of placing the tracks into place.

Then after working for a grand total of six months, the Little Tokyo Railroad was built.

Courtney was built shortly after the news of the railroad went out, it took a while to build her, but she was finished on time and brought to the line at around the time of the grand opening. On that day, she gave it her all, pulling two passengers coaches behind her and giving an offical test run of the line. When the test run was over, people were pleased and agreed to make the Little Tokyo Railroad to be Tokyo's one and only standard gauge short line.

As time went on, trucks were brought in from the United States and England. The trucks from the States were kind and friendly, while the other trucks were indeed a bunch of troublemakers, as all trucks normally are.

"We'll find a way to play our tricks," they snickered to each other, "just wait! Just wait!"

They would have to wait a long time as they had english style couplings instead of knuckle couplings like Courtney, so they were left in the sidings while Courtney took other trucks.

Although the line had passed it's trail runs and was perfect, there was one bad section that went along by the water's edge, hence why they called it 'The Water's Edge'. Try as they could, the workmen just couldn't make this line safe for Courtney, so they decided to close this section until further notice.

Originally this section was a huge drop to the water, but after the construction work began, the workmen placed plenty of earth beside the line as to help de-railed engines stop before they fall into the waters.

The Man in the Suit wasn't pleased to close this section off, "I was hoping to use this as another route," he would say.

"It's better if you don't use the line at all," said one of the workers, "since you do have one engine, if she comes off the tracks near here, then you will have to close the line for a while until she's back in service."

The Man in the Suit sadly agreed and told this to Courtney and her crew.

"Should I find out that you have used the section," he said sternly, "then I will leave you in the sheds and shut down the railroad till your repairs are done and you learn a lesson."

"I promise you sir," said Courtney with a worried tone in her voice, "I won't let you down."

"I certainly hope you do not."

Then he walked away, Courtney continued to look worried, "what if we make a mistake and go onto the Water's Edge?"

"Don't worry Courtney," said her Driver, "we'll be taking extra care as we work, so there's really no need to worry about this, okay?"

"Well okay, if you say so."

Courtney started to feel a little better, sadly she had not counted on the troublesome behaviour of the english style troublesome trucks.

The following morning, Courtney's Driver and fireman came in with some english style couplings.

"We need to take some of those trucks to the warehouse distract today," explained the Driver, "which is why the Man in the Suit wants us to use these."

"They are only for this run," said the fireman as he climbed the steps to the cab, "you'll be back to your knuckle couplings later today."

"That's good, still...I don't trust those trucks."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, they keep looking at me with that look on their faces, like they want to push me off the rails."

"That's a little doubtful," said the Driver, "but even if they try that, we'll be on our guard and be ready to stop them."

It didn't take long for Courtney's Driver to install the temporary couplings to the front and the back of Courtney, then the japanese engine and her crew set off to collect the trucks.

"I hope they will stay good, I hope they will stay good," Courtney muttered to herself.

Her worries turned to a relieved sigh as she was coupled to her trucks, then she puffed away to the warehouse distract with supplies for them.

"Maybe this will be easy."

Alas, she still had no idea of the true trouble coming towards her.

"Wait till we return, we till we return," they whispered to each other.

They giggled quietly to each other, trying their hardest not to let their engine and her crew hear them.

Once at the newly built warehouse distract, Courtney's crew offered to help the workers unload the trucks and load them with supplies for a ship awaiting at the docks.

"We've had plenty of good luck so far," said one of the shop workers, "I sure hope that nothing goes wrong."

"So do we," agreed Courtney's Driver.

The work took a grand total of thirty minutes, but that didn't bother anyone at all, well almost everyone - the trucks were tired of waiting and wanted to have some fun.

"Wait till I give the signal," said the leading truck, "and no sooner."

"Understood," said the other trucks.

At first, all was going well during the run to the dockyards and Courtney thought she had everything under complete control.

When she got to the dockyards, she shunted her brake van into the sidings, then she began to shunt her trucks towards the line that lead - to 'The Water's Edge'.

"Easy does it Courtney," said her Driver, "one wrong slip and we'll be on the bad line."

"Cautious and careful, cautious and careful," she muttered to herself.

They were soon side by side with the mighty ocean liner, this was the moment the trucks were waiting for, "Push! Push! Push!" shouted the lead truck.

The trucks bumped right into each other and pushed Courtney down the line at great speeds.

"Stop! Stop!" she cried.

The crew were surprised by what was going on, but they did all they could to stop the runaway. The Driver first tried to apply the brakes, but they were doing no good aganist surging trucks.

"Maybe we should push aganist the trucks," said the fireman, "that could work!"

So the Driver opened the regulator and Courtney began pushing with all her strength aganist the trucks.

"Stop, please stop!" she cried again.

But the trucks didn't care what she was asking them, they were in no mood to care and were determined to de-rail Courtney.

"Almost there! Almost there!" cried the trucks.

Courtney's fireman looked back and noticed they were getting closer and closer to 'The Water's Edge' and at the speed they were going, there was no way to stop their engine.

"Bail out!" cried the fireman.

The Driver looked back and knew the fireman was right, so he put on a little more speed into Courtney and jumped out, followed by the fireman.

The trucks were now starting to get tired and the long load was going slower, but not slow enough as they reached the bad section.

Courtney started to tilt from side to side, she was getting more and more worried - then disaster! There was one part that was the worst of the enitre line. As soon as Courtney rolled over it, she tilted to the left.

"Oh HELP!" cried Courtney.

There was nothing she or anybody could do as the japanese engine fell flat on her left side and rolled down the embankment towards the water. Thankfully she stopped before she fell into the water.

The Driver went down the line to get help, while the fireman stayed with Courtney, dumping the fire out and checking for damages.

Since there were no other engines on the line at the time, workers had to tow the breakdown train to Courtney, which wasn't easy. Before that however, they had to get the trucks out of the way, then got the crane in place.

"Snap my hook," gasped the crane, who was named Nora, "don't worry Courtney, we'll have you on the rails in no time."

Nora was as good as her word as she soon had Courtney back on track.

When she was brought into the sheds, the Man in the Suit scolded her badly as he thought the incident was her fault, "I told you not to use the line and yet you do! You will stay in the shed until I say so!"

Courtney was upset, too upset to say anything back. Thankfully though, they had other ways of keeping the line going, mostly using lorries with special train wheels.

However the truth got out that it was the trucks that had caused the accident and the Man in the Suit soon scolded them. He went to see Courtney and told her he was sorry. Sadly the japanese engine wasn't so forgiving at this point.

"There is only one I can trust," she thought to herself, "and that is myself."

"And that is the whole story," said Courtney as she finished telling her tale.

"That's horrible," gasped Kaede.

"It's like I always say," said Thomas, "you can never trust trucks, except the ones here. Still I would like to know how they became better behaved trucks."

"That's easy to answer," Courtney chuckled, "after the scolding they got from the Man in the Suit, the other trucks and coaches and even getting a good bumping from me, they soon learned that being behaved trucks is better than being troublesome."

"And yet, it's never easy back home," Thomas muttered.

Courtney could only smile, she liked this little engine, "maybe I was wrong about him," she thought to herself, "And maybe I was wrong all this time about not trusting others. Thank you Thomas."

Although she didn't say it to Thomas, he knew excatly what she meant and gave her a happy wink, before going back to talking with new friends.

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by a picture seen in the book 'Train Wrecks' by 'Robert C. Reed'. The engine in the picture was shown on it's side on an embankment, just above the water, near Cedar Point, Pa., date is unknown.

_**Saying Goodbye to Primula**_

Work proceeded as normal as both Thomas and Courtney went back and fourth along the line with their trucks, and on special occasions, they would take passengers on tours of the line.

Everyone enjoyed the runs and would often say to the Man in ths Suit, "you are running a wonderful railroad, we'll be sure to tell all of our friends all about this fine line."

That of course made the Man in the Suit very happy, as well as the two engines and their friends as well.

Although he was proud with all the progress the railroad was making, Thomas was mostly thinking about his young friend Primula. He was wondering why she always looked sad whenever he saw her.

A few days after Courtney had told her story, the new tank engine had finally arrived - with a little surprise of his own. As there wasn't just one engine, there were two...twin engines. These engines had come with big boilers, tall funnels, big cabs and six driving wheels and the words 'Pennsylvania' on the side of their boilers.

"I only ordered for one engine," said the Man in the Suit, "why did they send me two?"

"You got a good deal sir," said one of the engines, "you got two engines for the price of one, I guess our last owner never mentioned that."

"No he did not. Now which one of you two is number 2469?"

"That would be me," said the same engine.

"Very well then. Now I understand that you don't have a name, would you like the name, Li?"

"I would be honored sir, thank you very much."

Then the Man in the Suit looked over to the other engine, who was number 2470.

"What am I going to do with you?"

"Maybe you can send him to work at the warehouse distract," suggested Thomas, who had just arrived with some supplies, "Masuko was telling me this morning that they do need a shunting engine for their shops."

The Man in the Suit looked at Thomas with a small smile on his face, "that's a great idea Thomas, I shall phone the manager down at the warehouse distract and see if he needs an engine."

He went to his office - and in a few minutes, he came out of his office with his smile still showing, "the manager does need an engine, so I'll send number 2470 there, but before you go, I will give you a name. How about Ken?"

"I would like that sir, thank you."

So Ken was sent off to work at the warehouse distract, while Li went to work in the yards, shunting trucks for Courtney. People came by the dozens, day after day to see the new engines whenever they could, they were indeed impressed with the two engines.

Ken impressed his manager so much that he was offered him a brand new coat of dark blue paint for his boiler.

"It's not only as a reward for all your hard work," his manager said, "but it'll be easier to tell you and Li apart."

"Indeed," agreed Masuko, "it's getting harder for me to tell which one of you two is which."

Ken could only chuckle, "I can understand, most people have mistakened me for my brother many times, so getting my boiler painted blue sounds like a great idea to me."

Although Thomas was pleased to finally meet the two tank engines, he was still mostly thinking about Primula.

"I wonder why she is always sad," he thought to himself.

In the late afternoon, he decided to talk to both Kaede and Rin to get some answers.

"We don't know why she's always sad, for that matter we don't know why she's always quiet," said Rin.

"She doesn't say that much about herself," added Kaede, "all we know about her is that she's related to Nerine and she has a passion for cats."

"Which makes me wonder where her toy cat came from," said Rin.

"But I think she has another interest now," Kaede continued, "the love of trains, like you Thomas."

Thomas blushed a small shade of red when he heard that.

As he continued working over the next few days, Thomas could see what Kaede was talking about, as he would often see Primula watching him from the platform. She wouldn't move an inch, she wouldn't look anywhere else, her eyes were always focused on Thomas.

"I think she might have a crush on our Thomas," chuckled the Driver.

The fireman laughed along to that, but Thomas didn't, mostly cause he wasn't paying any attention to them.

Thomas looked back over to the platform, only to see Primula walk sadly away with Rin and Kaede.

"I wish I could help her," sighed Thomas the Tank Engine.

Thomas' chances to help cheer Primula up came sooner than he had orginally thought.

The next day, Thomas was brought into the yards as the Man in the Suit wanted to talk to him, "Thomas, I would like to thank you for all your great services, you have done me proud as well as your controller."

Thomas smiled brightly, then he noticed the Man in the Suit looking serious, "however, I did say that you were to stay here until our new engine arrived, and since he has arrived, I am ready to send you off back to Sodor."

"I understand sir."

Then he heard some little cries coming from behind him. It was Primula, she had heard everything.

"You're leaving?" she cried as tears poured down from her eyes.

Before Thomas or anyone else could say anything, Primula had run off. She ran as fast as she could go.

"Sir," Thomas said quietly, "I need to go talk to a friend, would that be okay with you?"

"Of course it is, but don't take too long."

Thomas' crew got their little blue engine turned around, then they chugged along the line, all three of them shouting out Primula's name as loudly as they could.

"Looking for one little girl," groaned the Driver, "is like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

Thomas knew his Driver was right, but he wasn't willing to give up. So he continued his search, until at last he could see her.

Primula was sitting on a rock that sat beside one of the many sidings on the line, Thomas was switched over to the siding and stopped beside the little girl. Primula looked over to Thomas with tears in her eyes and an even sadder look than she ever had before.

"Why did you run away like that?" asked Thomas.

"I didn't want to say good-bye," sobbed Primula, "why do you have to go?"

"Well I'm needed back on my branch line real soon, besides the Man in the Suit has got Li in the yards, so he won't be needing me here."

"But I need you here. I've never met someone as kind as you before and I..." Primula couldn't finish what she was saying because she started to cry some more.

Thomas felt sorry for the little purple haired girl, then he had an idea. A great idea on how to cheer her up and to make her smile too.

After a while, Primula did climb into Thomas' cab and Thomas puffed off light engine to the docks where all his new friends were waiting for him.

When he came to a complete stop, Primula came out of the cab running towards Rin and broke down in tears again.

Thomas cleared his throat and spoke in a kind soft way, "I have had a lot of fun working here, I got to meet so many wonderful friends during my stay here, I really enjoyed talking with all of you...especially Primula."

The little girl looked over to Thomas with a tear-soaked face, but looking a little confused.

"I really enjoyed your company too Primula, just like I enjoyed everyone's company."

"You mean it?"

"Of course I do."

"Thank you Thomas," Primula started to calm down a little bit, then came a big surprise - Primula started to smile, then she ran up to Thomas, jumped onto his buffer beams and gave him a big hug. Thomas blushed happily as Primula hugged him for a couple of minutes.

Once she got off the buffer beams, Thomas spoke up again, "I would also like to say that you guys are always welcome to visit the Island of Sodor and my branch line any time you want."

"That's wonderful Thomas," said another voice, it was the Man in the Suit, "now I would like to let you know that you and your friends from Sodor are more than welcome to come here whenever we need the help or for special occasions."

"Thank you very much sir."

Then he looked over to Courtney, she looked right at him and gave him a wink. She didn't need say a word, Thomas knew what she meant to say, so he winked right back at her.

Soon the workers had all the cables attached to Thomas, the crew had put the fire out and got on board the ship, then the crane at the docks slowly lifted Thomas off the ground.

"Good-bye everyone! I'm going to miss you all!"

"Good-bye Thomas!" everyone called to him, "we're going to miss you too! We'll see you soon!"

Thomas could only smile, especially as he saw Primula still smiling at him. Then there came a chrous or cheers and whistles as Thomas was lowered into the hall of the ship, but before he was placed inside, he called out "I'll be sure to tell everyone about this lovely railroad and the city too and I promise to come back someday!"

I'm sure Thomas will keep his promise, I think that Primula knows, he most certainly will.

_**The End!**_


	2. Japanese Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 2**_

_**Japanese Engines**_

_**Based on the Original (2009) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_As recalled in the book 'Thomas and the City of Tokyo', we met up with the Man in the Suit and his Little Tokyo Engines and of course, their friends that drop by every day. Well most recently there's been interesting surprises that came up, which so happened to involve Courtney, Nerine and even Li the new tank engine got into the excitment as well, but I can't reveal anything right now, you'll have to read the stories to find out._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Cracked Case

-Minor Problems of the Yards

-Bumper to Buffer

-Temporary Doesn't Last Forever

_**Cracked Case**_

Courtney the Japanese Engine and Li the Little Tokyo Engine were often kept busy shortly after Thomas went back to Sodor. High demands came into play and the engines often felt like they were being rushed off their wheels. Courtney especially, she could feel some pain from one of her driving wheels.

"I can't understand why I'm feeling that," she said to Li one night, "it's almost like these wheels of mine are ready to fall apart."

"It is possible, I remember seeing that happen to a few engines that came into the old yards I used to work in, back when Ken and I worked on the Pennsylvania."

"Was it a common thing?"

"Nope, it was more of a rariety, once in a blue moon, if you know what I mean."

"I do," now Courtney was more worried than before and wondered about the condition of her wheels.

When morning came, she spoke with her crew about the little pain in her wheels.

"Well they are quite old," said the fireman, "it is possible that after all this time, those wheels are just about ready to fall apart."

"I don't like the sound of that," groaned Courtney, "what if they break apart during one of my runs, that could be a disasterous situation."

"It would be bad," said the Driver, "maybe we should inform the Man in the Suit about the pain in your wheels."

"There's no need," said a familar voice. Everyone looked over to the door to see the Man in the Suit standing there, "I already heard everything. I would like to send you off to the workshops to have new wheels installed, but it is going have to wait till the demands of goods go away."

"That's if they last that long," Courtney muttered to herself.

Courtney had every right to worry and would continue to worry as she took her trains along the line.

Just like any other part of a steam engine, the wheels don't always last forever and will start to wear down. When that occurs, the worn out parts need to be replaced as soon as possible. If left unattended, then that could lead to trouble with the engine.

As she puffed along with her trains, Courtney kept on thinking about what Li said the night before.

"This better be a rariety and never occur," she thought to herself.

"Is something wrong Courtney?" asked the trucks.

"No," she called back to them, "nothing's wrong my friends, nothing is wrong at all."

That wasn't the case I'm sorry to say, as someone else had noticed a small creaking noise coming from the driving wheels, and that someone was Nerine.

When she arrived at the warehouse distract, Courtney backed her train into the shops with the creaking noises of her wheels groaning louder than they were before.

"Are you okay Courtney?" asked Masuko, who was waiting to unload the trucks.

"I'm okay...well, except for one of my wheels, I can feel some pain coming from one of my driving wheels."

Ken pulled up next to Courtney with some empty trucks, he could see the problem in plain sight.

"You got a small crack on one of your driving wheels," he told her, "might I suggest staying here? The workmen can give you a new pair of wheels and I'll take your next train for you."

"That's sweet of you Ken, but I don't think the Man in the Suit will allow that."

"It's better to be safe than sorry you know?"

"Yes I know what you mean, but it's like he told me before, it's better to wait until the high demands of goods traffic start diving down."

"If you're sure that's okay, then it's okay with me."

No more was said about Courtney's wheels, Ken was busy arranging the next train and Masuko was kept busy unloading Courtney's set of trucks. Around this time, Nerine had arrived and came over to see the japanese engine.

Even she could see the damage that the one driving wheel had already taken.

"Hello there," called Courtney, "you're Nerine right? The princess of the realm of the demons?"

"I am," she smiled, "and you're Courtney right? I'm honored to meet a wonderful engine like you."

Courtney blushed, "well thank you. Say Nerine, have you ever taken a ride on a steam train before?"

Nerine shook her head, "I've only ever been on one of those high speed bullet trains on the main lines. I've never riden on board a steam powered train before."

"Well then, why don't ride with us, I'm sure my Driver and fireman will allow to ride in the cab."

As indeed they did, they welcomed Nerine into the cab and told her how they operate Courtney. Nerine was very interested and listened very carefully.

"What do you think about steam engines now?" asked the fireman.

"I think they very interesting, especially Courtney. She's a one of a kind, am I right?"

"Well we're not enterily sure," answered the Driver, "we've heard that there might be other standard gauge japanese engines in the world, but until they are found, Courtney is the one and only operating engine of her class."

Ken was now adding the brake van onto the tail end of the train, he blew his whistle to let Courtney know that her train was ready to go.

"Here we go," said the Driver as he opened the regulator, "Nerine, would you like to blow the whistle?"

"I would love to," she smiled and walked over to the whistle chain. She didn't blow it too long or too loud, it came out as a nice soft whistle.

Courtney was taken away from the shops for a short distance, then the Driver backed her down onto the train, then the fireman got down to couple Courtney to the train.

"Are you ready for a run with a steam powered goods train?" the Driver asked Nerine.

"I'm ready," she smiled.

The fireman climbed back into the cab as Nerine blew the whistle, the wheels started to turn and Courtney puffed away, while the same driving wheel groaned louder and louder.

At first the journey was going well as they passed the main business distract, but as soon as they left the busy streets behind them - it happened. There came a loud snap and then there came a loud groan from Courtney.

"Somthing's broken! Something's broken!" she sobbed.

The Driver brought the train to a hault, then he and the fireman got down to inspect what had happened.

"That's torn it," grumbled the fireman, "one of Courtney's wheels have cracked off!"

"Which wheel is it?" asked Nerine.

"The middle one on the left side!"

"I'll go back to Ken's workshop and get some help," said Courtney's Driver.

After about ten minutes, Courtney's Driver arrived with Ken. Then after he was coupled onto the tail end of the train, Ken pulled Courtney back to the workshops.

Once at the shops, Ken shunted Courtney into a siding, while he took the train to the dock yards.

Courtney was worried that the Man in the Suit would be cross with her, she wondered what he would say to her. Nerine and the crew did their best to calm her down, but that wasn't helping.

"I really messed up his plans," she groaned to herself, "he won't be pleased about this. I'll probably be locked up in my shed for a month for this."

Soon enough, Ken returned with the Man in the Suit riding in his cab.

"Hello Courtney," he said in a kind way, "I've heard about what happened to you..."

"I'm sorry sir," she interupted, "I know I've ruined your plans and lost some time with the deliveries. I understand if you want to keep me in the sheds for a while for my stupid actions."

"Courtney, it wasn't your fault," said Nerine, "you're not to blame."

"Nerine is quite right," agreed the Man in the Suit, "these kinds of things can happen once and a while. If anyone is to blame here, it's me. I should have known that you needed your wheels replaced."

"So...what's going to happen now?"

"Well, you are to stay in the workshops to have your wheels replaced. It will take a day for your new wheels to be put into place, so that will mean that Li will have to work alone. I'm sure that he won't mind."

"Are you sure you're not mad at me?"

"I'm quite sure," chuckled the Man in the Suit, "you're not in trouble Courtney, not at all."

"Thank you sir," she smiled.

The Man in the Suit smiled as he walked off to find Ken for his next ride back to the yards.

**Author's Note:**

This story is inspired on a picture found in the book 'Train Wrecks' by 'Robert C. Reed', showing a steam locomotive who had the same 'driving' wheel arragment as Courtney, who had a broken wheel. Reason why it cracked is unknown, year it happened was 1917.

_**Minor Problems in the Yards**_

While Courtney was having her wheel replaced in the workshops, Li had to work even harder in the yards. He didn't mind all the work that he had to do, he loved every moment of it, he loved shunting trucks and coaches into their proper sidings or trains, then taking the trains up and down the line.

One thing about the job that Li did not like was the fact that some workers never payed attention to their work.

"Back a bit!" called one of the workers, "you have enough room in the siding!"

"Check!" said the foreman, "move back!"

So Li backed up to the siding, he thought all was going well...until he heard someone shouting, "no room! No room! Back! Back!"

By then, it was already too late. Li's trucks went bashing into the other trucks with a big...BUMP!

"What was that?" cried Li.

His Driver looked back, "oh you have to be kidding me," he groaned, "there wasn't any room in that siding, we ran smack into the train of trucks!"

"Bother those workmen," grumbled Li.

The bumping noise had gotten the attention of the Man in the Suit, who came running out to see what the matter was. When he found out, he spoke to the workman and then went to Li.

"I'm sorry about that sir."

"There's no need to be sorry Li," The Man in the Suit said kindly, "you didn't know that there was no room in the siding. I spoke with the workmen and he said he thought there was enough room in the sidings, until he checked at the last minute. He promised he'll check before you back some trucks into the sidings again."

"Sure he will," he muttered quietly to himself.

That night when Courtney came back to the sheds, she got a great welcome from both Nerine and Li. Then Li told them both of the problem he had today in the yards.

"It can happen from time to time Li," said Courtney, "I remember one time when I had a problem with someone not paying attention to their job."

"What happened?"

"Well...it was just a normal day in the yards, I was shunting some trucks into a siding, a workmen was working on one end of the yards, and another one was keeping an eye on how far I had to go before I was near the train. All was going well, until one of the other workers came over and spoke to the man that was suppose to keep an eye out for the other man's signal."

"Anyhow, they started talking and the other man noticed that I was getting too close to the train."

" 'Stop! Stop!' he cried, but no-one was paying attention and there I went, backing further down the siding and bumped 'SMACK' into the train."

" 'What in blazes?' asked the first worker, 'that didn't sound good at all.' "

"The other man came running up all angry, 'we're you going deaf or something, I told you to inform Courtney's crew to stop and yet you did nothing to stop them!' "

"That man sure felt silly for what had happened, although it wasn't as bad as the time we shunted 'blind'."

"What do you mean by shunting blind?" asked Nerine.

"Well the only way to really explain to you what it means is tell you of what happened. You see, on another day, I had just finished arranging two trains together, and now was the time to couple the trains together...that's when it all happened."

"A shunter was riding with me to the front of the train, there should have been two...one in the middle and the other with me, but there was only one. I knew we going to make the connection to the trucks on the front end with no trouble, but what about the second end?"

" 'Go back and get 'em!' " cried the shunter. As I had feared, we were going to have to shunt back, but without anyone near the middle of the train, there was no way of knowing how far I had to go. That's what 'shunting blind' means. Anyhow, I pushed the first line of trucks to the second line of trucks, until I felt a bang."

"The shunter thought I had coupled up to the second line, but what happened was that thanks to the 'blind shunting', the second line of trucks rolled down the line and ran onto another line and banged into more trucks, de-railing them."

"I bet the shunter felt stupid, didn't he?" asked Li.

"Oh he did, thankfully though that didn't happen again."

"Were there anymore incidents that happened in the yards before Li came?" Nerine asked curiosuly.

"Yep, one of which I'll never forget. It was a normal day and it was someone's first day on the job, he was to make sure that all the trucks were arranged into their proper trains. The morning turned out well, but by the afternoon, that's when we ran into trouble."

"One of the trucks I was shunting had bounced off a set of knuckle couplings and was now rolling back towards me. The new guy was unaware of this as he got onto the railings of the leading truck, another worker was trying to stop the truck that was rolling back by turning the brake handle...that's when the new guy saw him coming and jumped off."

"The trucks went crashing into each other," Courtney paused, "thankfully both workers were okay and there wasn't too much damage to the trucks, although after that day, the new guy promised to be a little more careful."

"Anything else?" asked Li.

"Funny you should ask, cause there was another event that 'unforgetable'. I remember on the one day my Driver came into work a little grumpy and wanted to get the work done as soon as possible."

"He opened my regulator too quickly and we started with a big jerk, the trucks sure felt that jolt as we left the yards. Then afterwords, when we reached the warehouse distract, he pushed the brake handle in too far again and...well I'm sure you guess what happened next."

"The trucks bumped each other as you stopped?" asked Nerine.

"Yep, they went bumping into me. They weren't the only ones that felt that, I felt it too."

"Bad tempers can usually lead into trouble," said Li.

"Indeed and thankfully by the next morning, my Driver was in a better mood and apologized to me and the trucks, and work continued on with no more 'fast' starts and stops."

Li and Nerine were indeed surprised by the stories Courtney had just told them, they had never heard so many stories about workmen and shunters not doing their jobs properly.

"These things happen sometimes, but it's a once and a while thing. Although when it happens, it comes as a big surprise and comes back to bump you in the buffer beams or bash the couplings."

"And what is that suppose to mean?" Li asked curiously.

"Well there was another day when someone was paying attention to his work, but he wasn't paying attention for long."

" 'Uncouple one truck', said the foreman. The shunter went to uncouple the truck, but as he climbed onto the railing, I started to push. My Driver didn't know if we were to stay or go, so we decided to push the trucks into the siding."

"The foreman was wondering about which set of trucks to uncouple and didn't know what was going on, until he heard...'HEY!' this came from the shunter, 'HEY! STOP THE TRAIN!' "

" 'Oh my gosh!' cried the foreman and signaled to my driver, we slowed as the shunter had uncoupled the one truck and now it was rolling down the line to the train. It bashed into the other train and damaged some of the cargo.

"No wonder with the brutal bash given to those trucks," groaned Li.

"And to think those moments all happened one after another in a single year too," sighed Courtney, "although those accidents in the yards still occured, it was a once and a while thing."

"Like today?" asked Li.

"Yep, just like today. I mean it's been four months since we have had an incident in the yards, just like it's been a long time since we had any accidents on the rails."

"Mostly because workmen and shunters do their best in the yards, just like you engines do on the lines, right?" asked Nerine.

"Quite right."

Li didn't anything else, but he knew that Courtney had made a very good point.

"So what do you think Li?" Courtney asked, "do you think that the workmen and shunter cause those minor accidents on purpose?"

"No, no, of course not. Everybody makes mistakes every now and then, so there's no reason to blame them."

"That is good to hear," smiled Courtney, and even Nerine had to smile at this.

The next morning, Li was working in the yards again with the same foreman and worker from yesterday.

"Here we go," groaned the Driver, "let's hope they won't make a single mistake."

"Just give them a chance," said Li.

The worker looked down the siding, "no more," he said, showing his hand signals, "move back!"

"Understood!" called the foreman, then he showed his hand signal to Li's crew. They backed the train away and then after a minute, they moved the train into a different siding.

"It's like Courtney said," smiled Li, "there is no need to worry...as long as we're all paying attention to our work."

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by some stories heard of accidents and incidents in the railyards as seen in magazines and railroading safety videos.

_**Bumper to Buffer**_

Every now and then, there comes a really bad character that is willing to cause trouble and has no worries about who gets hurt. One such character was a flatbed lorry named Van. The lorry was bought up from a company in England and brought to Tokyo to help local businesses get their loads from the warehouse distract and get them to the shops.

Sadly, this lorry and his driver were bad to the bone, so to speak, they went too fast down the road and more often than enough, they would disobey the simplest traffic laws.

Despite all the trouble that the lorry and his Driver were causing, they had no intention to stop their little 'game'.

"We've only just begun," shouted Van, whenever he would break a law.

Early one morning, Li came back to the sheds, looking cross.

"That stupid Van is a nasty of piece of work!" he snapped crossly, "he went dashing in front of me more than once today, I could have bumped into him."

"Who is this Van?" asked Courtney, "I haven't met him before."

"Be thankful that you haven't either," said another voice, it was Sia, she and Nerine were coming by to visit the engines to see how they were doing, "that Van is a natural troublemaker. He breaks the rules of the road and will break any law he wants."

"He's not a friendly lorry at all," added Nerine.

"Quite right," said Li, "so you take care when you take your next goods train."

"Don't you worry Li," said Courtney, "I'll be careful."

Courtney's job that day was to take some of the english style vans to the distract to be loaded for a cargo ship bound for America. After her Driver and fireman helped to install the couplings and coupled their engine to the train, Courtney set off at once.

"Easy does it," she advised the trucks.

"Not to worry, we'll do our best not to let you down!"

That made Courtney feel better.

All was going well until she heard the sound of a lorry's horn, Courtney looked to her left and noticed a flatbed lorry blaring it's horn and racing down the road.

"Hmm," she thought to herself, "I wonder if that's the lorry that Li, Sia and Nerine were talking about before."

It was indeed Van and his reckless Driver, they were taking a load of books to a local bookstore. They didn't need to get to the store in a hurry, but that was what they were doing.

"Move out of the way!" snapped Van, "we have an important order to fill and you idiots are making me late!"

"So move it!" shouted his Driver.

"It's a red light," shouted one of the other driver, "just be patient."

"Forget it!" snapped Van's Driver.

Then they went dashing past the other cars and lorries and ran threw a red light, nearly hitting a couple of vehicles. Many of the other drivers were in complete shock.

Courtney had heard the loud shouting, but she didn't take any notice.

"He won't be acting like that for too long," said the Driver, "once the police catchs up with that lorry, then..."

"It won't do any good at all," said the fireman, "Van and his Driver have broken countless laws and have told by the police department to start following the laws."

"Let me guess, they refuse to, am I right?" asked Courtney.

"Yep, you guessed right Courtney. Last I heard, they were told that if they break the law again, then the police will take action to stop them, they will impound Van and the Driver will be sent to jail."

"Which probably will be happening soon," muttered Courtney quietly.

Courtney was soon at the warehouse distract, Masuko was helping to load up her trucks carefully, while Ken was busy elsewhere with his own jobs.

"Have you ever seen a lorry named Van?" Courtney asked Masuko.

"Yes and what a terror he is," replied the small crane, "he almost ran into me a couple of days ago when he came to take some supplies to it's proper destination."

"He almost ran into you?"

"Yes and it would have happened if my driver backed me away. Still, crashing into me isn't the worst this lorry has done."

"He hasn't run into people, has he?" Courtney asked worrying.

"No, thankfully. Nobody has gotten badly hurt by that lorry, but he doesn't stop the way he acts, then someone is bound to get hurt. Make sure that you take extra care out there Courtney."

"I'll try," she said quietly.

"Don't worry Courtney," called the trucks, "if you ever run into trouble, we're right here to help you out of that mess."

"Thank you," she smiled.

Within minutes, the last of the cargo was loaded into the vans and Courtney was ready to go.

"Remember when I said to be extra careful," called Masuko, "well there's another reason I said that, it's because you are carrying china plates and tea cups."

"I'll be careful," she whistled as she puffed away.

Being careful however, was going to be more difficult than Courtney had thought. She hadn't gone too far from the warehouse, when she came upon a terrible sight. There was Van, blocking her line.

"Get off the rails!" she cried.

Courtney's Driver blew the whistle, but Van didn't move.

"STOP! STOP!" Van cried.

Now as everyone knows, trains can not stop on a dime and that was excatly what Van and his Driver were going to learn.

"I told you not to park me here," snapped Van.

"Oh will just shut up and start up!"

"What do you..."

The screeching brakes came closer and closer, until there was a loud bang! Courtney ran smack into Van's trailer and started to push him down the road. The resulting bash pushed Van down the road, banging into a couple of cars before finally coming to a stop.

"Oh dear," groaned Courtney, "I hope I didn't hurt anyone."

The crew jumped out of the cab to see the damage. Thankfully Van's Driver was okay, but he was cross.

"What is the big idea coming out of nowhere like that?" he snapped angerily.

Courtney's Driver went red in the face with rage, "we were running on a railroad, doing our job! You were the one doing something wrong! You should be lucky that the only damage caused was to your trailer!"

Thankfully a policeman came up in time before the argument turned into a fight.

When Courtney had backed herself away from Van, a breakdown lorry came to tow Van to the garages to be repaired. As for the driver, he was taken to police headquarters where they spoke to him severly, then they took away his license.

Courtney herself hadn't taken on too much damage, so she continued on. And believe it or not, none of the china was damaged, so Courtney was able to deliver the cargo with only a few minutes delay.

Later that day, Courtney went to talk with the Man in the Suit about the accident, "I know it wasn't your fault Courtney," he said, "the police told me that they have taken care of the man and impounded Van, so this shouldn't happen again. Meanwhile tonight, you are to go to the distract for a few repairs to your front end."

"Thank you," gronaed Courtney quietly, "I hope that Van has learned a lesson from this, that a flatbed lorry like him, is no match for 2000 pounds of steaming, crushing steal."

**Author's Note:**

The accident involved in this story is based on a real life incident at a level crossing on the Norfolk Southern. The tractor-trailer was sitting on the railway crossing when an NS freight train came along and bashed into the trailer, the driver of the 18 wheeler was still inside the cab when the train hit. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt and the only damage was to the trailer, a signal post and a level crossing gate. Date of the event is unknown.

_**Temporary Doesn't Last Forever**_

Courtney's repairs were soon completed over night in the workshops and she returned to the sheds in the morning. When she arrived, the Man in the Suit was waiting with Li.

"I'm glad to have you back in the yards," he said to Courtney, "now I have some important news, a special circus train is due to come to our city tomorrow. It's a one day show, but the circus manager has asked me if I could lend him one of my engines to pull the train."

"Does it come with knuckle couplings?" asked Li.

"They do indeed. These people have come all the way from America, I'm sure you might get to see some old friends again."

"Maybe I will sir."

"So, who's going to pull the train tomorrow?" Courtney asked curiously.

"I have decided to allow Li to pull the train tomorrow, I need you to take the other trains to the distract."

"Yes sir," Courtney sighed quietly.

Once the Man in the Suit had walked away, Li looked over to the disapointed Courtney. "I'm sure the Man in the Suit will allow you to pull the next circus train," he said in a kind way, "but it's still okay to have your normal jobs, I mean, you are bigger and stronger than me, so it makes sense to have do those jobs."

"I guess so," sighed Courtney, "and you're probably right, I might get the chance to pull the circus next time."

"For sure," smiled Courtney's Driver, "if I know the Man in the Suit, he would never leave you out of the fun, unless you have been bad."

"And I've been horrid for the last couple years," she groaned.

"Despite that," said Li cheerfully, "you have been making it up to the Man in the Suit with all the hard work you have done, especially when Thomas was here."

Courtney looked over to the American tank engine and smiled happily.

"Thank you," she whispered.

As the day wore on, Courtney was kept busy with taking supplies down a new section of track. This one went past the warehouse distract and to the third station on the line, which so happened to be new.

The only problem were the points that lead off to the new section. They had a new set of points, but they had more than a few problems and had to some 'Temporary' repairs done to it, one Track boss thought it was good enough.

"These repairs are good enough, there's no need to fix them again."

"Excuse me sir," called Courtney, "but I think there is a reason those repairs you've done are called 'temporary', they only work for a short while."

"I know what the word means," he snapped angerily, "but I'm sure that these points will do the job just fine. They'll work like any set of points, that is that!"

This naturally made Courtney worry.

As she waited in the siding near the distract, Nerine came by to see her and noticed the track boss shouting to the other workmen to leave the 'temporary repairs' alone.

"He's only asking for trouble," Courtney groaned quietly to her friend, "those points can cause a lot of trouble."

"They look fine to me," said Nerine.

"For now, but those are suppose to be temporary repairs done to the points, it's not made to last forever. Which makes me wonder what could happen tomorrow when Li is to take the train on that very line to the new station."

"Do you think that he might de-rail?"

"I think that he might, unless the track boss changes his mind and admits that these points are given a permenant repair."

I'm sorry to say that it was just wishful thinking, the Track Boss refused to have the points repaired again as he kept saying, "They are good enough!"

"I don't think they are good enough," groaned Courtney.

"It can be a problem," agreed the Driver, "maybe we should tell the Man in the Suit."

"Agreed," said the fireman, "we'll inform the Man in the Suit when we reach the yards."

Courtney began to feel a little better as she rolled over the temporary repaired points with her train of trucks in tow. Even the trucks could tell that the job wasn't going to last forever.

Sadly, when they came to the yards, the Man in the Suit had already left for home.

"Now what?" asked the Driver.

"I wish I knew," groaned Courtney the Japanese Engine.

The next morning, her crew went off to see the Man in the Suit as early as possible and told him about the temporary repairs done.

"I'm sure they can last long enough for Li to take the train," he said, "there's no need to worry, and please tell Courtney too."

They did tell their engine, but she wasn't convinced one bit.

"I doubt those repairs to those points will last forever," groaned Courtney, "I can't really explain it, but I feel like something will happen if Li rolls over those points with his train."

"I know how you feel girl," said the fireman, "I've got the same feeling too."

"So what do you suggest we do?" asked the Driver, "derail ourselves, just to show the Man in the Suit and the Track Boss that the repairs won't last?"

"As much as I hate to say it, that is what we're going have to do."

Courtney rolled sadly into the dockyards, Li was already there with the circus train. He looked really happy as he shunted the special trucks into place.

"I've already shunted fifteen trucks into place," he said excitedly, "and I've got seven more to shunt before I am ready to go."

"Good for you," Courtney said quietly, "but I'm afraid that you and your crew will have to wait till we leave, understand?"

"Of course Courtney, regular jobs come first."

"Good," she said quietly, then she reserved to her train. She spoke quietly to the trucks, "I've never asked you to do this before, but I need you dears to push me before we get to the new set of points, I need to make a point to two people and it can only work if you will kindly help me."

"We don't know..."

"Please promise me, otherwise Li and his special train will derail instead."

The trucks of Courtney's train looked over to the special, gulped sadly and agreed to follow through with the plan. Courtney's guard blew the whistle, Courtney puffed slowly on her way out of the dockyards.

Courtney worried about the accident due to come as she came up to the city, "I can't believe that I'm going to be doing this," she said to herself, then she spoke to her crew, "before we reach the points, I want you two to jump out, I do not wish to see you get hurt."

"We understand," said the Driver soothingly, "you are very brave to be doing this Courtney, we're so proud of you."

"Thank you," she said sadly as a small tear came down from her right eye.

Soon the points could be seen not too far away, the crew climbed out of the cab and the trucks, sadly, began to push Courtney. They came closer and closer to the points. A shunter could see them coming and tried to change them, but they wouldn't.

Courtney knew what was coming, so in the last possible second, she shut her eyes!

Her wheels rolled over the points, bounced off onto the street - tilted from side to side - then finally, Courtney began to fall to her right.

"This is going to hurt," she groaned.

Courtney hit the ground with a huge bang! The coal in her tender fell out of her tender and onto the road. Her trucks banged into each other, some fell on their sides and the others stayed upright, but off the rails.

The crash was seen by lots of people, including the Man in the Suit and the Track Boss.

"I thought they would have lasted," gasped the Track Boss, "it's those trucks that caused this..."

The Man in the Suit looked cross and was about to tell the trucks off, when Courtney spoke up, "they pushed me, because I told them too!"

The Man in the Suit walked over to Courtney and looked down to her, "you told them to push you? Why?"

Courtney sighed deeply and began to explain, "my crew and I have been having this feeling that something might have happened when Li came by with the circus train, so we caused this accident to show you that the temporary work wasn't going to last."

Courtney shut her eyes with some tears coming out. She was expecting to be yelled out, but the yelling never came.

"Thank you Courtney for informing about this, I guess I should have known that temporary repairs don't always last. I ought to thank you, your crew and the trucks for causing this, now we can repair the points properly before Li comes by and this time, it will be done the right way."

"That is good, but what about me?"

"I'll inform the yards and ask Li to bring Nora here to clean the mess up and you can go into the workshops for some repairs. You have made me proud today Courtney. Turns out that your accident was a blessing in disguse."

Courtney beamed happily.

Li soon arrived with Nora to clear the trucks away and put Courtney back on the rails, then they all thanked the trucks for their help and they all said that Courtney had done something good for the railroad.

Before she went into the workshops, Courtney stayed outside to see Li go by on the newly fixed points to the new station.

"I hope the circus will be a success," Courtney thought to herself.

Later on that day, Nerine came by and told Courtney that the circus was grand, "it would never have gotten to the station without your minor accident, the Man in the Suit was right, your accident was a blessing in disguse. You must be feeling proud for what you did."

"Only a little," she giggled, "although, causing accidents is one thing I do not want to do again."

"I don't think you'll need to that ever again," smiled Nerine.

I'm sure Nerine is right, wouldn't you agree with me?

**Author's Note:**

The accident in the story was based on the real life event of a Track Boss who thought that the temporary repairs were good enough. He was soon proven wrong when a train on the New England Railroad was derailed and put on the engine's right side. Accident occured in September 1907, close to Lloyd, New York.

**The End!**


	3. Percy and the City of Tokyo

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 3**_

_**Percy and the City of Tokyo**_

_**Based on the Original (2009) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_The Man in the Suit had brought another Sodor engine to the Little Tokyo Railroad while Courtney was in the workshops. The engine turned out to be Percy and from what Sia had told me, Percy got into quite a few unexpected surprises along the way. Even Asa Shigure told me about a story of determination with a little help from Percy, but I wasn't reveal anything yet, or I shall spoil the stories._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Sia, Percy & the Gale

-Bridges Falling Down

-Asa's Walk

-Reckless Deeds Undone

_**Sia, Percy & the Gale**_

Courtney's repairs were going to take a little while longer than the Man in the Suit had thought. He was worried to have Li working alone in the yards and knew that Ken couldn't be spared all the time. He needed another engine to help, so he phoned the Fat Controller on Sodor.

"I was wondering if we could borrow Thomas...oh, he's too busy. Is there any other engine who could help me out?...There is?...His name is Percy?...Very well then, we'll be sure to give him a great welcome when he arrives...thank you indeed sir."

After the call was made, the Man in the Suit walked out to the sheds, where Li was resting after working with his shunting duties.

"I have some good news Li, one of the Sir Topham Hatt's engines is coming here to help you with the work, until Courtney is ready to come back from the distract."

"Is it Thomas?"

"Nope, it's not Thomas...it's his good friend, Percy. I hope that you give him a great welcome when he comes."

"We certainly will sir," said Li and his crew, "we promise."

A few days later, a huge ship came into the docks, with the visiting engine from Sodor. The crane at the docks lifted the engine out slowly, and with some loud grumbling, it lowered the engine to the ground with a thud!

"Be careful!" he cried.

His driver and fireman came out to get him fired up, "well Percy," smiled his Driver, "we're finally here, the great city of Tokyo."

Percy was amazed with how big the city really was, "it's even more wonderful than what Thomas had said."

"I certainly hope he said some good things," said another voice.

Percy and his crew looked to see Li, who was coming in with a goods train.

"He has said many great things about this city and this railroad," Percy said kindly, "you must be Li, am I right?"

"Indeed I am," he smiled, "I am Li the American Tank Engine, brother to Ken and the newest engine of the Little Tokyo fleet. Anyways, welcome to the City of Tokyo and our Little Tokyo Railroad."

"Thank you for the great welcome."

"That was well done indeed," said the Man in the Suit, who so happened to have shown up, "welcome Percy. I trust that you had a good trip."

"It was a little bumpy, but it was still a very good ride."

"That's good to hear, now Li, I would like you and your crew to give Percy a tour of the yards and please explain about the work that he will need to do."

"Of course sir, you can always count on me."

Once Li had been uncoupled from his trucks and Percy's fire was well lit, the two tank engines puffed off to the yards.

It didn't take long for Percy to learn his way around the yards and learn to 'not' bash the trucks around, as they were indeed friendly, unlike the trucks of Sodor.

"And here I thought that Thomas was pulling my wheels when he was talking about these trucks."

"Well there's a good reason why these trucks are kind," said Li and explained about Courtney's incident, he remembered hearing about the accident from Courtney after Thomas had gone back to Sodor.

"Oh and I was wondering about the other friends that Thomas was talking about..."

Li quietly chuckled, "oh, I'm sure that you'll get to meet them real soon. They do come by every now and then, Nerine and Sia especially."

"Well I would like to meet them, Thomas did say that they were friendly."

"They sure are," smiled Li.

Later on in the afternoon, Percy was shunting some trucks into a siding. The trucks wanted to welcome Percy, but they spoke in the japanese language, so Percy didn't understand them.

"What did they say?"

"They said, welcome to the Little Tokyo Railroad," said another voice.

Percy looked to his right and noticed a red haired girl standing close by.

"Hello there," Percy said in a shy way, "my name is Percy, I'm from the Island of Sodor."

"You wouldn't happen to be a friend of Thomas the Tank Engine, would you?"

"I am, and you are?"

"My name is Sia, I'm the princess of the realm of the gods."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Sia," smiled Percy, "oh and Thomas told me to tell you that he says hello."

It was then that Li came over with some more trucks, "hello there Sia, it's good to see you again. Where's everyone else? I thought you all walked home together."

"They already left for home a few hours ago, I had to stay behind to gather some notes off the board. I wish I as good as Rina."

Percy looked on confused, "who's Rina? Thomas never mentioned that name."

"It's Nerine's little nickname," answered Li, "she did tell Thomas of that name, from what I have heard, I guess he forgot."

"It is possible," said Sia.

"Still, I'm glad to finally meet you," said Percy, "I hope I get to meet the rest of your friends during my stay."

"Don't you worry Percy, I'll be sure to tell them all about you...oh and you two might want to be careful tomorrow, I think we're suppose to be getting a huge storm."

Sia was right, by the next morning, high winds were blowing hard and heavy rains poured down. Most people didn't want to come out, but that didn't stop the engines and crews of the railroad. Although the crews were having a difficult time standing on their two feet.

"This wind is as strong as a gale!" cried Percy.

"You don't know strong," called Li, "until you felt the strong winds in Tokyo!"

Just as Li had said that, the winds blew hard, pushing the two engines a few feet down the track.

"See what I mean?"

"Yeah Li, I see excatly what you mean."

"In that case, we better take extra care," called Percy's Driver, "especially since we're going to be taking a train to the distract."

Further down the line, at a place where the line passed a business distract, Sia was doing all she could not to be blown over, "this wind is too strong!" she groaned.

It was clear that she couldn't walk another step, the wind was just too strong! She could see a tree on the hillside being blown and tilting down the hill, towards the railway.

"I hope that tree's roots can hold."

All of the sudden, a really strong blast of wind came out of nowhere and knocked Sia over the fence, and at the same time, it blew at the tree and pulled it out of the ground.

It went crashing down onto the ground with a huge bang! It was now blocking the tracks.

"I hope no train is coming," Sia thought to herself.

But there was a train coming, it was Percy. He was coming along with his train for the distract, he and his crew had no idea about the tree.

"I've got to warn him," Sia gasped, "PERCY! STOP! There's a tree on your line!"

Sia's warnings however were drowned out by the wind.

"Now I wish I learned how to use my powers. Now how am I suppose to get him to stop?"

Sia was now worried, until she came up with an idea, "Percy is puffing aganist the storm wind, maybe if I get his attention by throwing the broken pieces of the fence...maybe he'll stop."

Sia knew there wasn't much time, so she grabbed some of the broken pieces of the fence and started to throw them in Percy's direction, all the while, she was trying to keep herself from falling.

A few pieces went flying past Percy, but at last, several pieces of the broken fence hit Percy in the face.

"What was that?" asked the Driver.

"It's a warning!" cried Percy, "there's a tree in front of us!"

"Oh good glory!" cried the Driver, who leapt to the brakes. Percy's wheels screeched loudly, Percy shut his eyes and so did Sia - the crash never happened, they all looked to see that Percy had stopped with a few inches from the tree.

"That was too close," sighed Sia.

A roadway crew was called in to remove the tree, which only took about forty minutes. Sia rode with Percy and his crew to the distract, then they set off, light engine, to the yards. The journey back was easier as the storm's strong winds had dived down.

When they arrived, the Man in the Suit was waiting by the station, along with Rin, Asa and Li.

"Well done Sia," they all said, "you certainly are clever!"

"Thanks to you Sia," said the Man in the Suit, "there was one less accident on my railroad."

"Well, I'll do anything if it means helping a friend, right Percy?"

Percy smiled and happily agreed with her. She might be the princess of the realm of the gods, but to Percy, Sia is his guardian angel.

_**Bridges Falling Down**_

Besides shunting in the yards, Percy was placed in charge of a new line that was called 'The Transfer Point'. This place is where the engines of the Little Tokyo Railroad would take the loads from the warehouse distract or the dockyards, then the loads would be transfered to the high speed trains, which then would take them to other cities in Japan.

It was the Man in the Suit, who decided to try and build the new line and has been making arrangments with the controller of the high speed railroad and now, the work was beginning.

Originally, Courtney had been placed in charge of the loads, mostly cause she was larger and stronger than Li, Ken or even Percy. But with her in the workshops, Percy was the obvious choice for the job, mostly cause he was quick and very helpful.

Although the work was proceeding on time, there was the matter of a small wooden bridge that looked like it couldn't hold the weight of a train. Percy shivered everytime he went over the bridge, he would feel it sink slightly. To add on top of that, the bridge creaked and cracked.

"I hope this bridge can hold our weight," Percy groaned, "I don't want to have to go through the same 'near miss' on this bridge."

"We certainly wouldn't want that," agreed the Driver, "we all got quite a shock when that branch near the stream, we don't need to go through that again."

In no time, Percy had arrived at the sight, where the new lines were being put into place. There was a siding close by, so Percy could leave the trucks there.

"Most likely, this siding will be taken away when the line is complete," said Percy's fireman, "judging from those points, they are only meant to here for a short period of time."

"I hope they don't cause any trouble, like that one set of points did with Courtney."

"I don't think that will happen Percy," chuckled the Driver, "now come on, we can turn around on the 'wye' and head back to the yards to help Li shunt."

After being turned around, Percy puffed on, light engine, back to the yards. He was glad that the ocean was far off from the line, but his worries grew again as he approached the wooden bridge.

"Here we go," he whispered quietly.

As he rolled onto the bridge, it creaked and it cracked and then - came a really loud sound. The bridge was falling apart! Percy's Driver opened the regulator even more and Percy's wheels spun faster and faster. Percy raced off the bridge and just in the nick of time, as the entire bridge itself collapsed and fell towards the ocean.

"That was too close," gasped Percy.

"I have to agree with you Percy," agreed the Driver. He looked back to the sight and groaned, "I just wonder what the Man in the Suit is going to say when we tell him that the wooden bridge is gone."

It was late in the afternoon when the Man in the Suit had been informed of the situation, he was cross, but not with Percy.

"It's all my fault," he was saying, "I should've known that the bridge wasn't going to last. We'll need to have that bridge replaced, till then - Percy, you are to use the other line that leads from the distract, it'll mean you'll have to use the tight curves, but it's all we can do."

"I understand perfectly sir," said Percy quietly.

That evening, Sia came by the sheds to see how Percy was, she had heard everything.

"I'm okay Sia, it was a good thing that my crew reacted the way they did, otherwise I would be at the bottom of the ocean right around now."

"Yes, you are very lucky," said Li, "most engines who cross a bridge that is falling down, don't usually come back."

"Did that happen on your old line?" asked Sia.

"Yes indeed - it's a night that none of the pennsy engines will ever forget, mostly cause there's something that always keeps on reminding us."

On one of the old lines of the Pennsylvania railroad, was an old wooden bridge. It had been built in the late 1800's and had stayed in the same place for many years. In it's early days, it was considered to be the most modern bridge and proved valuable, especially as it got all of the engines from end to another. However in the 1920's, the bridge was proving to be a problem, as it creaked and it cracked under the weight of passenger and goods trains.

The railroad had decided to take it down, but the strange thing was, was that it wouldn't come down...not by people anyways.

Since it was proving to be a hazard, the railroad decided not to use the bridge and built a new line further away. But another railroad, the rivals of the Pennsylvania, were willing to use the bridge, which proved to be near disasterous.

One such engine was a New York Central pacific engine, he thought he knew best and thought the bridge could hold his weight. The pennsy steam engines all told him not to use the bridge, but he wouldn't listen to a word they said.

"You're all being scaredy cats," the NYC engine said, "There is nothing wrong with that bridge."

"It's quite an old bridge," said one of the pennsy engines, "it creaks and it cracks under the weight of our trains."

"It's bound to fall down one of these days," said another engine, "our controller does not want to take a risk with any engine from our line, or from your line. You might be our rivals, but we certainly don't want to see one of you disappear because of that bridge."

"So take our advice," said the other engine, "and don't you dare cross that bridge!"

The NYC pacific engine refused to listen, he thought that the pennsy engines were just pulling his wheels and was determined to prove that the wooden bridge was strong enough.

Soon however, his oversized ego was going to get the best of him...once and for all.

On a calm moonlit night, the NYC pacific engine was pulling nine coaches full of passengers along the line that lead to the wooden bridge. He was suppose to go the other way, away from the bridge, but when he got there, the line was closed due to repairs.

"Now what are we going to do?" asked his fireman.

"Simple," said the NYC pacific engine, "we will use the wooden bridge, this will be a perfect chance to show the pennsy engines that this bridge is strong."

The crew were unsure, they looked back to the coaches and the waiting passengers.

"We'll let the passengers off first, then we'll cross the bridge."

So the guard went along the train to inform the passengers of what was going to happen. When they were told that they were to leave the train, they weren't pleased and neither was the NYC pacific engine.

Once the passengers had gotten off the train, the NYC pacific engine puffed slowly onto the bridge. It creaked and cracked softly, the sounds got louder with each passenger coach that went onto the bridge. Now the engine was starting to regret the decision - until he the other side of the bridge come into view.

"Nearly there, nearly there," he panted, "I've shown them, I've shown..."

Suddenly as the last coach's wheels crossed the bridge, the creaking and the cracking sound grew to a loud noise! The bridge was falling apart. The crew tried their best to get their train to the other side, but it wasn't going to work. The bridge broke into a few dozen pieces, the tracks, the passenger coaches and the NYC pacific engine went crashing to the waters below.

The loud whistle echoed throughout the valley and the screams could be heard from the crew, but no-one could help them. The passengers could only watch the horrible sight unfolding in front of them.

When help finally came, it was much too late. The engine and it's crew disappeared under the water and no sound could be heard. Another engine came to collect the passengers and took them back to the station for a bus to take them home.

The NYC pacific engine and his crew were never seen again, a rescue would have been impossible, and so, they were left there.

A new metal bridge was put into place and service continued on as normal. However, every year, on the day of the event, whenever a train is about to cross the new metal bridge, they hear the sounds of pistons pumping and a loud NYC whistle could be heard.

The engine and it's crew and even passengers can see another passenger train crossing that bridge, not unusual, except that the train is - see through...a ghost train!

It moves across the bridge and when it's last coach's wheels cross the bridge, the train disappears out of sight and a loud splash can be heard from the waters below. Many people say that the engine and it's train try to make it home on that very moonlight night, but he never does reach the other side.

"How awful," groaned Sia, she was shivering after Li had finished telling the story.

"Have you ever seen the ghost engine?" Percy asked.

Li didn't answer, he just looked out the window, he could see the full moon outside on this night.

"No, I haven't seen the engine myself, but I have heard alot about it from other engines."

"Do you really think there is a ghost train near that bridge?" asked Sia, still sounding worried.

"I don't know," Li answered, "I just don't know, many people and engines have said that they have seen the train..." Li then went silent, Percy and Sia decided not to say anymore on the subject.

The question now remains...is there really a ghost train, trying to cross that bridge? I guess...we'll never truely know, will we?

_**Asa's Walk**_

It was another beautiful spring day, Asa Shigure was just getting up from her bed, when she started to feel a little uneasy. When she looked in the mirror, she noticed that her face was going bright red. To add on top of all that, Asa had an uneasy feeling in her stomach, and when she tried to get up, she felt like her strength had disappeared.

"I've never felt anything like this before," she groaned to herself.

Still, she wasn't going to be missing out on anything at school today. So, she got into her school uniform, in about less than five minutes, then she walked into the kitchen, where her mother, Ms. Ama, could be seen making a batch of soup.

"Good morning sweetie," called Ms. Ama, then she noticed that Asa was going red in the face, "are you feeling okay today?"

"Yes...I'm fine," smiled Asa.

Although, she wasn't feeling fine, she felt sick.

"Maybe you should stay home today."

"It's okay, mom, I'll be fine," now Asa can be a little stubborn, whenever she wasn't slapping poor Rin silly. Once she was done eating her breakfast, Asa set off for the school.

Every morning, Asa usually walked to school with her good friend, Kareha. Today however, she was nowhere to seen, so Asa went out on her way - alone.

Soon enough, she came to the crossroads leading to the Little Tokyo Railroad, "not too far now," groaned Asa quietly.

No sooner had she said that, then she stopped walking, she was feeling weaker than she did earlier that morning. Percy was working in the yards that morning, he could that Asa wasn't feeling well.

"Hello Asa," he called as he drew up alongside, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling a little uneasy right now," she answered, "but I should be okay."

"Don't push yourself too hard," called Percy's Driver.

"I'll be fine," she said, trying to stay on the positive side, "now I better get going, I don't want to be late for my classes today."

As Asa was walking away, Percy called out, "don't give up, Asa, no matter how worn out you feel, just keep going till you get home, then you can rest!"

"Thanks...Percy!" she called weakily, then she slowly away and out of sight.

"Where did you hear that advice, Percy?" asked the fireman.

"Donald and Douglas told me that one once, when they once felt sick in the boilers back in Scotland once. They said that that little piece of advice kept on going till they reached the sheds and before long, they were feeling better."

"Well let's hope that your advise can help Asa get through the day," said the Driver, "she does look a little under the weather."

"And yet she was looking perfectly healthy yesterday," said the fireman.

"Good luck Asa," said Percy quietly.

When she finally got to school, Asa was feeling really sick. Her good friends, Rin and Kaede could this and were starting to worry about her.

"Are you feeling okay, Asa?" asked Rin.

"I'm fine," she said with a smile on her face, "it takes more than a small cold to bring down Asa Shigure."

Kaede looked worried after hearing Asa say that, "don't push yourself too hard," she advised, "sometimes, over confidence can lead you into some serious trouble."

"I know that, I've heard that before. You guys don't need to worry about me, I'll be extra careful not to over do it today."

And that is what Asa did. Despite being sick, she was able to do all the class work, she managed to do all the cooking she needed to do in class and lastly, she was able to gather all the notes she needed.

When it came time for gym class, the teacher told Asa that she didn't have to join in, but being the girl that she is, Asa was not one to miss out. So...she joined in.

Although, as she did what the rest of the class was doing, she was doing it a little slower.

"If you want Ms. Shigure," said the teacher, "you can sit the rest of this class out, I'll understand completely."

"No thanks," smiled Asa, "I'm perfectly fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep, I'm sure," if there is one thing everyone knows about Asa Shigure, is that she can be a stubborn at times. Now normally, that isn't a good thing, but Asa was filled with determination.

"I'm not going to let something like this...whatever it is, stop me," she kept on saying to herself.

By the end of the day, Asa was feeling worn out. More than once that day, she felt like she was going to pass out, but the green haired girl was determined and was not willing to give up.

"How are you feeling?" Kaede asked as she came into the cooking club's classroom.

"I'm still feeling a little sick," groaned Asa, "but I'm okay, I've been able to complete all the classes today and I got all of my homework assignments."

Kaede was impressed with her friend, then she had a thought, "what about getting home? You can't go home by yourself."

"I'll be fine," she smiled, "it's not a long walk back."

"Are you sure? Cause Rin and I could walk with you."

"You don't need to do that, I wouldn't want to be any trouble to you guys."

"It's no trouble at all, we'd be happy to help you home."

And so it was decided, it didn't take too long for Kaede to tell Rin about helping Asa home, so once they all met up outside of the cooking club's classroom, the three teenagers set off for home.

They were quiet most of the way, till they came to the Little Tokyo Railroad, where Li and Percy could be seen.

"Keep on going Asa!" shouted Li.

"Remember, don't give up!" shouted Percy.

Asa nodded her head happily, then she looked back to her friends, "thanks for walking with me home, I know I must be taking up alot of your time. I'm sorry."

"It's okay Asa," said Rin, "there's no need to say sorry."

"That's right," agreed Kaede, "we're always glad to help a friend."

Asa smiled happily and remained silent, till she finally got home.

Asa felt sick throughout the night, so she stayed in her bed, having some soup that Ms. Ama made for her.

"You should've stayed home today," said Ms. Ama worrying.

"It's okay mom, I was fine throughout the entire day, I might have been a little slower today, but I was still able to do everything that I would normally do."

"Okay I understand, but if you feel worse tomorrow, then you're staying home."

"Okay, I will. I promise."

Within a few hours, Asa was finally asleep in her own bed. Ms. Ama walked over to her door and looked to see her daughter sleeping.

"I was worried about you," she said quietly, "but I am proud of you for not giving up."

Of course, even in her sleep, Asa could everything that her mother had said to her.

The following morning, another surprise met Asa. This time, it was unusuaul. When she woke up, Asa felt...perfectly well, she didn't feel sick anymore.

When Ms. Ama took her temperature, she was surprised.

"You've made a full recovery over night," she gasped, "but how?"

"I don't know," Asa was just as confused as her mother, "that was strange, but the good news is that I am all better now, and I don't need to miss out on anything today."

"Even so, I don't want you to push yourself too hard, just in case."

"Okay mom, I'll do that."

When Percy, Kaede and Rin heard that Asa had gotten over her little sickness, they thought it was a joke. But when they finally did see Asa, looking better than yesterday, they were shocked to see her all better.

"I don't know what happened to me yesterday," she was saying, "but whatever it was, I'm glad it's gone. Thanks again, Rin and Kaede, for walking with me back to my house yesterday."

"You're welcome," they said in unison.

Then Asa looked over to Percy, "and thank you as well, I think it was your encouraging words that kept me going all day at school. Do you do that all the time on Sodor?"

"On a rare occasion," Percy said meekily, "I do that sometimes."

"Well thanks again," she said, winking right at Percy, who blushed crimson red.

**Author's Note:**

This story is based off the 'unusual' days events that occured of my 19th birthday in January 2009, with the same results as this story showed.

_**Reckless Deeds Undone**_

After Asa, Rin and Kaede had walked off for school, there came a loud whistle in the distance, followed by the sounds of pistons pumping and then, grey smoke appeared in the distance.

"She's back," smiled Li, sounding really excited.

The Man in the Suit was walking up beside Li, Percy was also nearby with a train load of trucks.

Then after a minute, the source of it all came into the yards. Repainted with a new coat of black paint and everything had been polished, till it shone brightly in the sun.

"Welcome back Courtney," said the Man in the Suit, "it's good to have you back, you have done us all proud."

"Quite right," agreed Li, "welcome back Courtney, boy won't Nerine be happy to see you back in the yards."

"I'm sure she will be happy, just like I am to be back. Thank you very much for that, I'm very happy to be back."

Courtney was soon brought over to the yards where Percy was.

"Hello there," she said in a kind way, "I'm Courtney the Japanese Engine, you must be Percy, am I right?"

"That's me," said Percy kindly, "welcome back."

"Thank you very much. Now, let's get to work, shall we?"

Percy happily agreed. Soon all three engines were hard at work, taking more and more trains to and from the warehouse distract. While taking the trains, Percy also met up with Nora the breakdown crane, Masuko the small crane and even met up with Ken.

Courtney was sent back to work on the line leading to the 'Transfer Point'.

Courtney soon heard about what happened during the gale and Asa's sick day, she even heard about Li's ghost story.

"Sounds like a lot has happened while I was in the repair shops," she chuckled happily.

"We sure have," smiled Percy.

"How did the repairs go?" asked Li.

"Well, they repaired all the dents that I had, then they gave me some new parts to replace some of the worn pieces they found during the inspection. Now they say that I'll run like a brand new steam engine."

"That's good," smiled Li, then he looked over to Percy with a sad look, "but now you'll have to go back."

"Not just yet," smiled Percy, "your controller wants me to stick around for another week before I'm ready to go back."

That of course made Li feel better.

The week went by with lots of work being done, all was going well, until one day.

It was the day before Percy was due to go back to Sodor, Asa was given the honors of riding along with Percy in his cab.

"Wait till you see the warehouse distract," smiled Percy, "it's huge and I know Ken and Masuko will be happy to meet you."

"Well I can't wait to..." Just then, she was cut off by the sounds of loud sirens and tires screeching. Everyone looked to the roads and there was a car flying around the corner of the crossroads at great speeds, followed by several police cars behind it.

"I wonder what's going on?" wondered Percy's fireman.

"I don't know," said the Driver, "let's hope that nobody gets hurt."

Both Asa and Percy quietly agreed.

The speeding car was flying down the road much too fast, the police wanted it stopped and fast. They tried to put a stop to the wild chase, but the man was refusing to slow down.

"This is getting too dangerous," groaned one of the officers, then he called out on the radio, "set up a spike strip, that might stop him."

One of the other officers that was further up ahead, did just that. He got out the spike strip and threw it out across the road.

"It's all set," he said.

"Great," said the same officer in the car, "and just in the nick of time, he's coming up to your location now!"

The speeding driver was indeed coming up on the area, but he could see the trap. So to avoid falling for it, he goes off in a different direction and avoids it.

"Bother!" snapped the officer in the car, "stay close men! We've almost caught up with this guy!"

Then came a terrible sight, the man started driving down a shopping distract, where the roads don't go. He was driving along at great speeds, people had to act quickly to avoid getting hit by that car.

It was clear to the police, that this man didn't care if anyone got hurt, just as long as he got away.

"Okay," said the officer in the car, "we need to stop this man and I mean...NOW!"

So once the man was back out on the road, the police cars chased after the wild man again. They tried the spike strip again, but the speeding man dodged it again and drove off to the main business distract.

"Don't stop!" shouted the officer in the car, "we need to stop this guy before someone gets hurt."

At this time, Percy and his goods train was just puffing along to the warehouse distract. He was enjoying himself as the wind blew across his funnel and even Asa was having a good time too, as the wind blew threw her hair.

"It feels so nice," smiled Asa.

"We hear that all the time," smiled the Driver, "especially whenever we allow people to run along in the cab."

"But we get to feel this all the time whenever we take Percy out," said the fireman.

"You're so lucky," smiled Asa.

Percy was glad to know that Asa was having a good time riding with him.

The fun was soon to end really fast...literally. The speeding car that they had all seen before, came back into view once again, and was now driving towards Percy's train!

Percy's Driver blew the whistle at the man, it did no good, as he continued to drive too closely.

Then he drove on ahead, getting away from Percy and straight towards the police.

"Now they've got him," said Percy's Driver.

But he was wrong, the man saw the police and made a quick spin around and ran straight towards Percy!

"STOP! STOP!" cried Percy.

His Driver applied the brakes, but it did no good. The runaway man's car went smack into Percy and spun like a top, till it hit a small parking post and came to a stop.

Percy was able to stop in less than a minute, he was worried that someone would have gotten seriously hurt.

Police soon surronded the car and helped the man out, he wasn't badly injuried, so they arrested him and placed him inside the police car. Then once they drove away, Percy continued on his way to the distract.

When he got there, he was surprised to see Ken, Masuko and all the workers looking pleased with him.

"You caught the reckless driver," cheered Masuko.

"You should be proud for what you did," added Ken, "and don't you worry about your buffers, we can have them fixed in a jiffy, right Masuko?"

"Right!" he called.

When Percy arrived back at the yards, with his buffer beams now restored, he was cheered to the echo by Li, Courtney, the Man in the Suit and all their friends as well.

"The police have reported to me about what you did Percy," said the Man in the Suit, "and they asked me to tell you that they said 'thank-you' for your help. Had it not been for you, that man would have gotten away."

"Smashing work, Percy," said Sia, although there were a few chuckles from everyone else.

"Maybe people should call you, 'Percy the Police Engine'," said Asa.

Even Percy had to laugh at that joke, but he did feel proud for having done a good deed.

The next day, Percy was just getting prepared for the lift on board the ship, ready to go back to Sodor. Li, Asa and the Man in the Suit were the only ones who could come.

"Sia and the others told me to tell you that they are sorry they couldn't make it, they are a little busy with other things," said Asa, "but they all say that they wish you a happy and safe trip home."

"Courtney is a little busy with a goods train," said Li, "but she asked me to tell you the same thing."

"Thank you," smiled Percy.

"It was an honor to have you working here Percy," smiled the Man in the Suit, "you have done a fantastic job, and like Thomas, I hope that someday soon, to invite you back to our railroad."

"Thank you sir, I hope that I will get the chance to come back someday. Like Thomas, I'll be sure to tell everyone about this lovely railroad and the city too."

Soon the crane was ready, he groaned of having to lift Percy again, but nobody really payed any attention to him.

Percy smiled as Asa and the Man in the Suit waved to him, and Li whistled cheerfully to him. He did indeed have a wonderful time in the city of Tokyo and hoped to return someday.

Now he was looking forward to going home and telling the news of his trip to everyone, especially Thomas.

"Boy have I got some stories to tell him," he chuckled happily to himself.

**Author's Note:**

This story was slightly based off the unbelievable chases where a man in a speeding car drove in a shopping distract and was stopped by a hard cement post.

**The End!**


	4. Little Tokyo Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 4**_

_**Little Tokyo Engines**_

_**Based on the Original (2009) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Very little has been said about the Little Tokyo Engines until now. The three engines of the railroad have certainly gotten themselves into some interesting events during the height of the spring season. When I went to see the Little Tokyo Engines again, they told me all about what happened, I even got the chance to speak with Nerine about something that happened at the dockyards, but I mustn't say anymore or I'll spoil the story. Anyhow, I hope you'll enjoy reading about the Little Tokyo Engines, cause I sure had a lot of fun writing up this book._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Driving Miss Courtney

-Nerine & the Missing Crate

-The Storm of the West

-Pull With All Your Might!

_**Driving Miss Courtney**_

The Little Tokyo Railroad is unlike any other railroad in the entire world, the railroad has both sets of trucks that come with either knuckle or chain couplings, the same could also be said about the coaches. The line isn't three foot gauge like the old japanese railways were like, this one had it's tracks provided by the United States.

The Man in the Suit has only two engines on his line, Courtney, the one and only Japanese Standard gauge engine in Tokyo is a big tender engine painted in black and comes with a tall funnel and smoke deflectors. Li the American Tank Engine is the most recent addition to the railroad, he's also painted in black and has the word 'Pennsylvania' on the side of his boiler, and a number under the windows of his cab '2469'.

The workshops at the warehouse distract has only got one engine, who looks the same to Li, but has blue paint on his tanks. Number 2470 is named Ken, and is Li's twin brother.

The Man in the Suit also has a special steam powered crane named Nora, she can either be pulled to the site of disaster, or she can move on her own, she is a very unique crane.

The trucks on the line are not like the trucks in England, they are friendly, as Courtney will often explain why.

Besides the railroading stock, the railroad has a tall crane at the docks named 'Rick', he's a little gruff, but he is useful.

Speaking of cranes, the warehouse distract's shop has a small crane of it's own named Masuko. He's painted in dark green paint and has a very big hook to help load and unload cargo onto the trucks.

The people of Tokyo are indeed impressed with the Little Tokyo Railroad, they say that it's come a long way since the line was first opened almost five years ago.

It was the height of the spring season, and a group of students, along with their teacher and the Man in the Suit were looking over Courtney.

"She's a one of a kind," said the Man in the Suit, "as far as we know, she is the only japanese engine that can run on standard gauge tracks."

"Then why do you have two engines on this line?" asked a young boy.

"Li is a different engine, he and his brother Ken came all the way from America."

While the Man in the Suit was explaining about when Ken and Li arrived, Courtney looked across the yards to see Nora moving back and fourth.

"Hello Courtney, how are you enjoying the field trip?"

"It's great!" she called, "The kids sure are interested in trains."

"Good to hear, well I'd like to stay and chat, but I'm needed down at the dockyards to unload some trucks."

Before Courtney could say anymore, Nora chugged slowly away and over the points to the dockyards.

The kids were having a good time, they were listening to Courtney's crew as they explained about how Courtney's many parts work. What none of them knew, was that a kid had climbed the stairs into the cab.

"Wow!" he gasped, "this is big!"

He was being a little too curious for his own good that he started to fiddle around with Courtney's controls. That's when it happened, the little boy opened the regulator...

Courtney's crew were still explaining about Courtney's parts, when they noticed that her wheels were starting to move, slowly at first, then they started to pick up speed.

"What's going on?" asked the Driver, "did I leave the brakes on again?"

They were soon to get their answer, as the young face looked out the window on the Driver's side and waved to his friends, "look at me!" he cried, "I am driving a train!"

Courtney's crew ran along the platform, but the Driver tripped over a crate that had been lying on the platform, while the fireman continued to race after Courtney. Sadly, he wasn't going to get his chance to get into the cab, the end of the platform was getting nearer and nearer, the fireman stopped before he fell off, but Courtney continued onwards.

"HELP!" cried Courtney.

"Don't worry train," said the little boy, "I won't let anything hurt you."

That did not make Courtney feel any better, she was now worried.

The fireman ran back to the Driver to see if he was okay, "I'm fine," he groaned as he got back to his feet, "but I don't know about Courtney."

"At least she isn't running at a fast pace, but how are we going to stop her?"

They were soon to get their answer, Li was coming in with a goods train. Before he reached the yards, he saw the Man in the Suit waving over to him.

"I wonder what could be going on," he said to his Driver.

"We better go see for ourselves," said his Driver.

They slowed down as they neared the points, then the fireman got down to change them. He climbed back into the cab as Li moved over to the platform.

The Man in the Suit soon explained everything about the young boy and Courtney running off.

"Don't worry sir," said Li's Driver, "we can catch up to Courtney, but we'll need Courtney's crew to come with us."

"What for?" asked Courtney's Driver.

"We'll explain on the way, now climb onboard!"

And so, Courtney's Driver and fireman climbed into Li's cab, then after he was coupled from his trucks by the Man in the Suit, Li raced away from the platform and out onto the open line.

"Hang on Courtney," Li said quietly to himself, "we'll catch you, we'll catch you."

Courtney was still scared, she was still rolling along at a slow pace, but she was afraid that the little boy might speed her up, then she would crash off the tracks. Thankfully, he didn't know how to increase the speed, he only blew her whistle.

"Someone please stop me," she groaned.

Then she heard another whistle coming from behind her, then came the sounds of wheels pounding the rails. It was Li, along with the two crews.

"A chase!" cried the boy, "oh boy, this will fun!"

Courtney didn't think it was fun. In Li's cab, Li's Driver explained his plan.

"One of you will have to climb out on Li's side and make your way to the front, then once we catch up to Courtney, you can climb on the ladder of her tender, then it's a simple jump into the cab. It'll be a little dirty with the coal, but what choice do we have?"

For less than a minute, Courtney's crew said nothing, then the Driver spoke up, "I'll go, just keep Li steady."

"You're not letting you go alone," said the fireman, "I'm going with you."

Li's Driver slowed his engine a little, but still was enough for them to catch up to Courtney's tender. Courtney's Driver and fireman crawled along slowly, they were nevous, but they were determined.

They were soon up to Li's front end, right at the moment they caught up with Courtney's tender. They had to time this perfectly, but at long last, Courtney's Driver jumped onto the ladder and climbed to the top of the tender. The fireman was next to jump onto the ladder and to the top of the ladder. They walked slowly along until they reached the pile of Courtney's coal.

Courtney's Driver waved over to Li, and waited till Li came to a stop. Then they walked into the cab, nearly falling into the pile of coal.

"Hello there," said the little boy, "I'm driving a train!"

"Yes you are," said the Driver kindly, "but I think it's time to bring her to a stop, then we'll take you back to the yards."

"Okay," said the boy.

Courtney's Driver walked over to his seat, then he applied the brakes. Courtney sighed with relief as her brakes came on, then she came to a stop. Then after a minute, the two engines backed down the line slowly to the station.

When they returned, Courtney's Driver spoke to the young boy, "you were pretty good at driving Courtney, but you're still a little too young to drive her, you might want to wait till you're a bit older."

"I will sir," said the little boy, "I'm sorry for taking your train."

"That's okay," said the fireman, "you meant no harm, isn't that right sir?" he asked the Man in the Suit.

"That's correct," said the Man in the Suit, "but you have to promise that you won't do that again until you've passed school, and when you're a little bit older, okay?"

"Yes sir."

For the rest of the day, there was no more attempts of little kids driving any of the Little Tokyo engines, Courtney certainly was glad at the end of the day when she came into the sheds, "I'll be glad when that kid is a bit older, but I wonder if he'll do that again. I certainly hope not."

_**Nerine & the Missing Crate**_

The crane down at the dockyards isn't what you might call a friendly fellow, he's always complaining about any work that he is given, especially since he has to work with steam engines. He's very tall, his legs are painted orange while the paint on his cab is white. He had been bought from a company in Canada and already had a name when he arrived, he is called 'Rick'.

Even though he is a little grumpy, he can be really useful, but he really shows no respect for anyone, including engines.

One morning, Courtney and Li were waiting for their open wagons to be loaded up with crates that were coming off a huge ship.

"If you ask me," grumbled Rick, "the Man in the Suit should remove your tracks and replace them with roads."

"He already tried that," shouted Courtney, "but that didn't work, roads were too bumpy, which is why our railroad is here."

"You should learn to cheer up a little more," called Li, "it might actually make the work go by faster."

"No thank you," shouted Rick, "I'm happy being who I am."

"Is that so? And why is that, because you're so tall and proud? Believe me buddy, I've heard that kinda talk from all sorts of cranes in my day."

"Whatever!" Rick snapped, "and don't call me your buddy, I am not now, nor will I ever be your friend."

"Geez, it's any wonder why nobody talks to you," said Courtney, "with an attitude like that, you're more likely to offend some of them or make them angry."

"Do you really think I care? No, I don't think so!"

Rick lowered the last of the crates into Courtney's trucks, then the two engines puffed away from Rick, they were quite glad that they didn't have to talk to the big crane for a while yet.

Today was going to be a busy day for the engines, as three ships were due to come in today with crates of important goods that would be taken to the Warehouse Distract, where Ken and Masuko would arrange them into lorries, which would then take the supplies to where they needed to go.

Normally, this work will go on with little trouble, but for today, there was trouble coming.

At around three in the afternoon, when all the kids and teenagers were allowed to go home after a long day at school, Nerine came over to the Little Tokyo's station as she always does.

She looked for Courtney, but the japanese tender engine was nowhere to be seen.

"I wonder where she is," Nerine thought to herself.

Courtney was still down at the dockyards, she was having an argument with Rick the Crane.

"Where did you leave it?" she cried.

"How should I know, you're the one who keeps losing goods."

"I do not! I know you hid that crate on purpose so I would get in trouble. Now tell me, where is that crate?"

"I keep telling you, I don't have your crate!"

"What's going on around here?" asked a voice, they both looked to see the Man in the Suit looking at them with an angry look on his face, "I could hear all this yelling coming from my office."

Courtney's crew explained everything to the Man in the Suit about the missing crate.

"We're not sure what could've happened to it," said the Driver.

"I do," Courtney said angerily as she looked back up to Rick, "that big oath of a crane hid that one crate on purpose."

"I did not," snapped Rick, "if anyone has hidden the crate, it would be your foolish steam engine down there."

This only made Courtney cross, but before she could say anything, the Man in the Suit cut in, "this is very serious, whoever stole that crate is going to be in big trouble. I'll need every worker here to help look for it, what number was it?"

"No. 2978," said one of the workers.

"Okay then, we'll start looking. Rick, I'll need your sharp eagle eyes to keep an eye out for it."

"Yes sir," said Rick with a smirk on his face.

"And Courtney, I want you to take the rest of the crates away, we'll call for you again soon."

"Yes sir," sighed Courtney. Once she was coupled up to her trucks, Courtney puffed away for the station, feeling miserable.

"I know he hid that crate on purpose just get me into trouble," she sighed unhappily to her crew, "you two believe me, don't you?"

"Of course we do," said the Driver kindly, "we also believe that Rick hid that crate, but where he hid it, we're just not so sure of where he put it."

"Well I hope we'll find it soon."

"Find what soon?" asked a voice. Courtney looked to the platform and there was Nerine standing close by.

Once Courtney had come to a complete stop, Courtney and her crew explained everything about the missing crate and how Rick might have hidden it.

"If only we knew where he hid it," sighed Courtney, "we can not only prove that he hid it on purpose, then we can also get our delivery to the distract in good timing."

"What's the crate's number?" Nerine asked.

"No. 2978," answered Courtney.

"Actually, I was talking about the big crate in your last truck."

Courtney's Driver looked back and noticed that there was an extra crate in their last truck. He climbed down from the cab and walked over to it.

He then read the number out loud, "it's No. 2978," he called, "it's the missing crate!"

"Why that Rick!" Courtney growled, "he did hide it on purpose. He must've thought that if he hid it in my last truck, thinking that once it was found later on, I would get blamed for it."

"Well, he's going to get away with this," said Nerine.

She climbed into Courtney's cab, then the Driver threw his engine into reserve and headed off back to the docks.

When they arrived, they found the Man in the Suit and the workers still searching for the crate.

"Oh look!" cried Rick, "it's miss I-Lose-Everything, what are you doing here?"

Neither Courtney or Nerine answered Rick, instead, Nerine climbed down from the cab and walked over to the last truck, "you're missing crate is in here," she said.

They all looked and sure enough, there was the missing crate.

"Rick put it in there to make it look like I lost it," said Courtney, "never to be seen again."

The Man in the Suit looked up towards Rick, "I thought you knew better than to do something like this."

Rick looked down to the Man in the Suit, he was looking nervous, "it wasn't me sir, it must've been that sky blue haired girl."

"She happens to have a name," Courtney called, "her name is Nerine, she's the princess of the realm of the demons!"

"Besides," continued the Man in the Suit, "it couldn't have been Nerine, she was at school all day."

"You don't know that," cried Rick, "You weren't here in the dockyards when the crate was placed inside that truck."

"You're right about that, but there are plenty of witnesses here, including your own operator, who can tell me if Nerine or anyone else with magic moved that crate into Courtney's last truck."

The Man in the Suit asked a few workers, then he spoke with Rick's operator and he soon found out that it was indeed Rick that hid the crate on purpose.

Rick gulped when he was found out, he wouldn't be able to lie his way out of this, this time.

Courtney then went on her way to the distract where Ken and Masuko unloaded her trucks, then she puffed back to the yards with empty trucks in tow.

When she arrived at the station, she spoke with Nerine.

"Thank you for helping me my friend," Courtney smiled, "if it hadn't been for you, that crate would've remained missing for a while and I would have gotten blamed for losing it."

"Well, I'm always glad to help in any way I can, although, I do mess things up every now and then."

"Well, you did good today," Courtney smiled.

Nerine smiled, she was glad to hear that she did something right, especially coming from Courtney.

As for Rick, well, he got a good scolding from the Man in the Suit, I don't think he'll be playing 'hide and seek' with the crates for a long time, not unless he likes being yelled at.

_**The Storm of the West**_

Ken the Workshop Engine usually works down at the Warehouse Distract, but he does take trains down to the dockyards whenever Courtney and Li are to busy with other work. Ken loves taking trains, for it gives him a chance to strecth his wheels and get out of the shops.

One evening, he was allowed to stay in the sheds with the other engines.

"This is the first time we've shared a shed," Li smiled to his brother.

Ken chuckled, "oh yes, we haven't shared a shed since we came here."

Sia and Nerine were also visiting the sheds, they couldn't help but overhear them, "where did you two come from?" Sia asked.

"We came a hertiage line in Texas," Li answered, "although, over the many years since the steam engines were retired from service, Ken and I have gone from one railroad to another."

"How many have you been too?" Nerine asked.

"At least five," Li answered.

"All of them were wonderful lines, but four of the five couldn't afford to keep us," said Ken, "That's the real reason why we were sold here."

"What happened to the fifth line," asked Sia.

"Don't ask," groaned Li, "that's one line that didn't like us, and we didn't like it."

"Although," said Ken, "do you remember that one time when we were caught in a bad storm?"

"You mean..."

"Yep, I'm talking about that storm."

"What storm?" Nerine, Sia and Courtney asked in unison.

Ken looked at his three friends, then back to his brother, "well my friends, I'd be more than glad to tell you about the biggest storm we saw on our third line."

In the olden days, around the mid 1970's, Li and Ken were working on a hertiage line in a small little western town. The town was surronded by a huge desert that went on for miles.

The two engines weren't the only engines, but they were the only steam engines there. They didn't mind this, plus they didn't mind if their controller never spoke to them or showed them respect, as long as they were working in a railyards.

"Oh well," said Li (2469), "our silver lining will come soon."

"Yes indeed," said Ken (2470), "but I wonder if we'll ever find a home that will want to keep us."

"Oh I'm sure we will, we just need to keep waiting."

"Yeah, you are right my brother."

"Although, I almost hope that we get sold off soon, cause I don't know how long we can last without feeling rain fall onto our boilers again."

"Yes I know what you mean," said Ken, "and as for us being sold off, I hope it's to the Pennsylvania."

"My brother," said Li, looking upset, "I'm afraid that the Pennsylvania is no longer around, it was merged with the New York Central, it's now known as Penn Central."

Ken sighed unhappily, he was upset to hear that his once proud railway was now gone. Still, work was work and the two engines had to continue on.

Since they were working in an old western town surronded by a dry desert, it was a common thing for some sand to be blown into the town, but it doesn't affect anyone except with some sand in the eyes.

These sandstorms were often small and didn't cause much trouble - that was until one day when things changed.

On that day, Ken was working with his brother in the yards, but he had a bad feeling come over him.

"I have a strong feeling that today isn't going to be a normal day," he was saying, "almost as if we're going to see a big storm come our way."

"That's almost impossible," said Li, "it doesn't usually rain here."

Ken's Driver looked out to the desert and noticed huge clouds coming towards them, "it's not rain! It's a huge sandstorm!"

Li and his crew could see the storm coming straight towards them, "head for the sheds, we'll be safe there!"

So Li and Ken puffed off for the engine sheds. They were quickly turned on the turntable and parked inside, then their crews came out of the cabs and closed the doors.

They weren't the only ones who saw the sandstorm coming their way, many people had seen it too, and if they were outdoors, they rushed to the closest building they could get to.

Within minutes, the town was surronded in nothing, but dirty dusty sand-dust. The winds wouldn't stop blowing the sand. There weren't too many people out at this time, except those in the cars, or in the diesel engines.

"Take us back to our sheds!" they barked to their crews.

"Not until the storm has passed!" their crews would say, "it would be too dangerous to dash back to the sheds when you can't see anything."

"Darn it!" grumbled the diesels.

Drivers in the cars were also thinking the same thing, which was why they pulled over and listened to the news on the radio.

Soon enough, the small western town became a ghost town.

The storm lasted for hours, until something wonderful happened - it was starting to rain. The rain washed away the dust in the air, and washed the sand on the buildings and roads away.

People started to come out, they were getting soaked by the rain, but they could finally breathe in fresh air.

Li and Ken were brought out of the sheds, they were pleased to see the rain for the first time in a long time.

"This feels nice," Li smiled, "I can feel the rain on my boiler again."

"It is wonderful my brother," smiled Ken, "now, let's get back to work."

"I'm with you."

And so, Li and Ken worked on till the day's work was done.

"What about the diesels?" asked Nerine, "when did they come back to the sheds?"

"Shortly after the rain started," answered Ken, "and let me tell you this, some of them were covered in lots of sand, both Li and I thought that our manager had replaced all those diesels with new yellow units."

"Did you really think that he did?" Sia asked.

"Oh we sure did," Li chuckled.

The five of them laughed until it was time for Sia and Nerine to go back to their houses. Courtney, Li and Ken talked for a little bit longer, until they all went to sleep, one by one.

The next morning, Ken was coupled up to a goods train ready to go back to the shops of the Warehouse Distract. Before he was ready to go, Sia and Nerine came over to see him off.

"Can I ask you something?" Sia asked.

"Of course you can, what would you like to ask me?"

"How long did you and Li stay on that line?"

"Well," the guard's whistle blew at that moment, and Ken's driver had opened the regulator. Ken was starting to move away from the station, but he was able to answer Sia's question, "we stayed till one week after the sandstorm!" he called.

With a friendly blow of his whistle, Ken puffed on his way.

Now Sia and Nerine knew a little more about Li and Ken's third home, and were now looking forward to hearing more stories about their old homes - whenever the girls see the American engines, alone or together.

**Author's Note:**

This story is based on what happened when strong winds blew the dirty dusty sand into a small town, the people there were told to stay indoors. Those who were still outside, ran indoors for shelter. After a few hours, the rain came and washed the sand away and cleared the air. Where and when it happened is unknown.

_**Pull With All Your Might!**_

Goods is always the main order of business for the Little Tokyo line, but there also comes a time when passenger trains are allowed. This gives the people of Tokyo a chance to see the line they once asked for, and to see what it's like to ride on a train that isn't going over two hundred miles per hour.

Usuaully, Courtney is chosen to take the train, but this year was going to be a little different.

"What's the matter?" Nerine asked as she was visiting the sheds.

"I feel sick," Courtney groaned.

"I can't tell what it is," said her Driver, "but we'll have to keep you here in the sheds until we can find out what is wrong."

"But what about the passenger train?" asked Courtney's fireman, "if Courtney can't pull it, who else is there left?"

"There's always Li, he could take the train."

They soon informed the Man in the Suit about Courtney feeling under the weather, then he went to see Li.

"Courtney isn't feeling too well right now," he was saying to Li, "so you are to take the passenger train. Make sure you give the passengers a grand run."

"I'll do my best," said Li with pride, "you can always count on me!"

The Man in the Suit smiled, "I know I always can," then he walked off back to his office.

Li was then taken over to the yards where the coaches were waiting. These were former Union Pacific coaches from the states, they were still painted in their original yellow and gray paint, but they had the words 'Little Tokyo Railway' on the sides.

Once Li was coupled up to the coaches, he took them all to the station.

Li likes the station, although it wasn't very big, it did look similar to the stations that he once knew that came with the tall roofs. There were only two lines that went inside the station, while a third line was on the outside, along with the platform where Thomas and Primula first met, and a small siding where tank engines can rest their wheels.

Today, there were a lot of passengers on the platform, which were including Rin, Kaede and Primula.

"Hello my friends," Li smiled, "decided to come see the rails?"

"Just the rails?" Primula asked.

Li chuckled, "it's a figure of speech, which means, are you ready to ride with me today?"

"We are," Rin chuckled, "we heard this trip across the line is a great one."

"Oh it is, I can assure you that you won't be disappointed."

Li had only heard about the passenger runs from Courtney, he had never pulled a passenger train on this line before. He only took goods trains and the occasional circus train.

"I hope I can give them a grand run," he thought to himself.

Once the passengers were on board the coaches, Li started to pull out of the station - only with a slight problem, with all the coaches behind him, and the passengers on board, the train was now heavier than before.

"Must keep puffing, must keep puffing," he panted to himself.

"Don't strain yourself boy," called his Driver, "the last thing we need is for you to break down."

"I'm trying, I'm trying," he groaned.

Trying hard not to strain himself was easier said than done, Li was using all the steam he had to keep the train moving.

The passengers on board the train were enjoying the run, they thought that a train ride was somewhat magicial.

"What do you think of this train ride?" Rin asked Primula.

"I like it," she answered in her quiet sort of way.

"We're quite lucky to have steam engines in Tokyo," said Kaede, "cause I don't think there are any other steam engines in operation in Japan."

"You might be right Kaede," said Rin, "most of the trains that can be seen in Japan nowadays are the high speed bullet trains."

"Are they fast?" Primula asked.

"They're fast," said Rin, "they will flash by you so quickly that they look like blurs."

"What about the rest of the trains?"

"The rest are subway trains," Kaede answered, "they mostly run on electricial wires that are hanging above the tracks."

Meanwhile, Li was going red in the face and he was breathing heavily, "mustn't let them down, mustn't let them down," he muttered to himself.

"Don't worry Li," called his Driver, "once we reach the warehouse distract, you can have a rest while we get you some more coal and water."

"Thank you," panted Li.

Soon enough, they came upon the city distract, Li blew his whistle more often than before as he puffed down the streets. Cars and lorries stayed out of the way as he came through.

"Thank goodness that Courtney got that Van off the streets," said Li's Driver.

"Yes indeed," said the fireman, "if she hadn't, then that stupid Van would..."

Then there was trouble, Li started to slow down, "what's going on?" he cried.

The Driver checked the gauges and soon found the problem, "you've run out of water!" he called, "you don't have enough to get the passengers to the warehouse distract."

Li huffed and puffed, the fireman damped down the fire, but poor Li's speed continued to go down, until he stopped - right in the middle of the busy city streets. People, cars and lorries all shouted at Li, but there was nothing he could do.

"I'm sorry," he groaned.

"It's not your fault," said his Driver, "it could happen to anyone. Anyways, I think it would be a good idea to get help."

The fireman stayed to drop the fire out, then he went to the last coach to inform the guard of what happened. The Driver continued along the line until he reached the warehouse distract. He phoned the Man in the Suit from Ken's manager's office, then he went with Ken to get Li.

When Ken arrived, he could see lots of people yelling and screaming at Li. The fireman uncoupled Li from the train, then Ken pulled him away to a spare siding outside the shops.

No sooner was Li moved out of the way, then they heard a loud whistle, it was Courtney.

"I thought you were sick," Li groaned.

"I was," she called, "but my crew's made me feel better now, it was just a common case of boiler sludge."

"Yuck," said Li and Ken in unison.

"Not to worry, I'll take over the train for you."

And that's just what Courtney did, after she was coupled to the coaches, she pulled the coaches to the warehouse distract, then after a tour of the shops, the train headed off along the line back to the station, but taking a different route.

Ken towed Li back to the sheds, then he puffed off with a loaded goods train from the docks.

When Courtney arrived back that night, she saw Li with an upset look on his face, "I blew it," he groaned, "I couldn't even make it to the warehouse distract."

Courtney tried her best to cheer the little american engine up, "come on Li, there's no need to beat yourself up over this, you did your best today and you gave the passengers a grand run too."

"Courtney is quite right," said the Man in the Suit as he walked into the sheds, "I am proud of you Li, you were able to give the passengers a grand run, despite the weight behind you."

For the first time that night, Li started smiling again, "are you really proud of me sir?"

"I am indeed," he smiled.

Then the Man in the Suit looked over to Courtney, "I'm also proud of you Courtney, you came through when in an emergency despite having been sick this morning. You still came out and helped bring the train home."

Courtney blushed, "well, I try my best everytime sir."

"So do I," added Li.

"Yes indeed," the Man in the Suit smiled, "I am very lucky to have two wonderful engines like you two. You are both the prides of the Little Tokyo Railroad."

The two engines looked over to each other and smiled.

"And," continued the Man in the Suit, "thanks to you two, the passenger run was a great success, and I'm sure the passengers on board will agree that our line is one of the best in all of Japan."

Courtney and Li happily agreed to that.

**The End!**


	5. Kaede and Thomas the Tank Engine

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 5**_

_**Kaede and Thomas the Tank Engine**_

_**Based on the Original (2009) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_A lot of excitment has been coming up lately, and most of that excitment came from the Island of Sodor. The start of this excitment had alot to do with Kaede Fuyou, the orange haired girl from Tokyo. She got the grand chance to see the Island of Sodor for the first time, but she wasn't alone as Rin, Primula, Sia, Nerine and Asa came along with her. And to think this started when Kaede...but I mustn't say anymore, or I will spoil the stories for you._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Contest Winners

-Water Logged

-The Engine That Tipped Over

-Kaede the Hero!

-Kaede's Night Out With Thomas

_**Contest Winners**_

Should you ever visit the City of Tokyo, then you might get the chance to meet Kaede Fuyou. According to all of her friends, she is a sweet kind girl who cares alot for her friends and family. She's also quite friendly, that the very moment you meet her, you'll want to be her friend in an instant.

Kaede lives in a big two story house that sits in between two big houses belonging to the princess and kings of the realm of the gods and the realm of the demons. She isn't living alone, Rin and Primula live with her too, and so does her father, although he is usually away on business trips.

Something else about Kaede that everyone will tell you, she loves doing house work and she loves to cook. She's also always on time for class and is never absent, except on a day when she is feeling sick. Because of all of this, it's a wonder why everyone at her school call her 'The princess of the school'.

One day, she was walking around through the grogery store, getting what she had written down on the list, when she heard someone call out to her.

"Howdy there miss," the man said with an american accent, "would you like to win free boat tickets for a trip unlike any other?"

"No thanks," she said kindly.

"Are you sure? Cause with these boat tickets, you could travel anywhere you want. All you need to do is write your name down on this slip, your phone number below it, and where you would like to go, who knows my dear, you could be a winner."

Kaede thought about it for a second, then she smiled and walked over to the counter. She wrote down her name, her phone number and where she wanted to go - which was the Island of Sodor.

"Okay then miss," said the man, "if you win, we'll give you a call in possibily five days."

That night when she got to her house, she told Rin and Primula about entering the contest.

"It does sound nice," said Rin, "tell me though Kaede, where did you pick for the trip?"

"I was thinking that we could go to the Island of Sodor," she answered.

"Isn't that where Thomas lives?" Primula asked.

"It is," said Kaede, "I just thought it would be nice if we could go there to see Thomas, Percy and some of the other engines they were talking about."

"I think it's a good idea," smiled Rin, "ever since Thomas told us about his home, I've always wanted to go there and see it."

"But we don't know if we've won the contest," said Primula.

Kaede sighed unhappily, "you're right Rimu, and we won't know for sure until we get that phone call. Besides, we may not win this contest, cause I'm sure alot of people are going to be entering into this contest."

Kaede was quite right, mostly everyone in the entire city was entering the contest for a chance to have a free trip to wherever they wanted to go to. At times, the piles of slips at the tables would disappear twice in one day.

"I think our chances of winning this contest are one in a million," said Rin.

Hearing that didn't bother Kaede, "it's okay Rin, I'm sure we'll get to visit the Island of Sodor someday. In the meantime, I think we should focus on our school work."

"Yeah, you're right Kaede."

"You're always looking on the bright side of things Kaede," said Sia, "I wish I was like you."

"So do I," added Nerine.

Kaede blushed modestly.

That night, Kaede invited Nerine, Sia and Asa to join her, Rin and Primula for dinner. Of course, the visiting girls wanted to help with the dinner preparations. Asa helped Kaede with cooking the meals, while Sia and Rin work together to set up the table. Nerine tried her best, but she wasn't excatly - perfect. She made more than a few mistakes and as a result, she kept apologizing.

"I'm sorry," she said everytime.

"That's okay," Rin said kindly, "it could happen from time to time, there's no need to say sorry."

Primula in the meanwhile was standing near the glass door that sat in the kitchen and watched everyone work. As per usual, she held onto her little toy cat, which was in a sorry state, having a few torn parts on it.

Then, just as everything was ready, the phone rang. Kaede went to answer it while Asa continued with the cooking.

When Kaede came back into the kitchen, she looked really happy.

"We won the contest!" she cried.

"We won?" Rin asked, sounding really surprised.

"Yes," smiled Kaede, "we won the contest, and won six tickets for the next boat to the Island of Sodor."

Naturally, everyone started cheering over this good news, except for Primula, she was being her usual quiet self. But in a very quiet way, she said "horray."

Asa, Sia and Nerine begged and asked Kaede if they could go with her, Rin and Primula. They needn't have done that, for Kaede was planning on inviting them anyways.

After they had finished eating, Asa, Sia, and Nerine went off back to their houses to tell their parents about their trip. Kaede phoned her father and told him all about winning the contest and of the trip.

Shortly after that, Kaede helped Primula pack for the trip, then she went back to her room to pack her clothes, while Rin packed up some of his suitcases. The same could also be said about Asa, Sia, and Nerine.

Needless to say, they were so excited for this trip that they couldn't sleep for a while, except for Primula, she went to sleep at the usual time.

By the next morning, they were all ready to go, both Mayumi and Kareha promised to get them their homework for the next few weeks that they were away. Then they told the teachers that they were going to be away for a few weeks.

The six of them met up down at the dockyards, they waited for thirty minutes for the passenger liner to arrive. While they waited, they took the time to speak to Li the American Tank Engine.

"You're lucky that you can go to the Island of Sodor," he sighed, "I would like to see it for myself, after hearing about from both Thomas and Percy, but I know the Man in the Suit needs me here."

"You might get your chance to go to Sodor someday," said Asa kindly.

"I guess so, it just comes down to patience and hoping. Can you guys promise me something?"

"Sure Li," said Kaede, "what is it?"

"Can you tell those engines that I said hello?"

"Of course we will."

"And we'll be sure to get plenty of pictures to show you when we return," said Rin as he held out his digital camera.

"Thanks," smiled Li.

Soon enough, the passenger liner, bound for Sodor, had finally arrived. Rin and the girls climbed on board, then they set out on their way. Throughout those three days, none of them got seasick, which is more than can be said about some other passengers who couldn't hold down their lunches.

"Didn't Thomas say that his fireman was seasick on their trip to Tokyo?" Asa asked Kaede.

"Thomas did say that, yes," she answered, "I guess he's not used to riding on boats."

"Which is probably why he went into railroading instead," said Nerine.

"Just a quick question here," Rin said as he joined in on the conversation, "does anybody know where Thomas works? I don't recall him saying anything about his line."

For a while, none of them said anything, until Asa spoke up, "it's the Ffraquhar branch line," she answered, "Percy told me the name of the branch line when he was visiting."

"Lucky us then," Rin smiled.

After the long three day trip, the passenger liner finally pulled up to the dockyards. Rin and the girls could not believe the size of the docks, they were certainly bigger than the yards of the Little Tokyo Railroad.

There were more trucks here, diesels and steamers were hard at work, and plenty more cranes than they had ever seen in one area.

When they got off the passenger liner, Asa asked a dock worker, in pure english, "excuse me sir, but which passenger train leaves for the Ffraquhar branch line?"

"That would be the main line express," said the worker, "it should arriving any second behind..."

Before he could say anymore, a big blue steam engine came puffing up beside the ocean liner, followed by the five passenger coaches behind it.

"Behind Gordon the Big Engine," said the worker, continuing where he left off, "if you wish to get to the branch line, then I might suggest that you got on board."

The worker then told them of where they could get off at for the branch line, Asa thanked the man gratefully, then she went to join her friends on the express.

Five minutes later, the guard blew his whistle, Gordon blew off his whistle and he stormed off out of the docks.

"Gordon is faster than Courtney and Li," said Primula as she was looking out the window.

"It's probably because he was designed for such speeds," said Rin.

Kaede wasn't really paying attention, she was looking out the window. She enjoying watching all the sights flash by, but still being able to see them, unlike on the bullet trains of Japan.

"Won't Thomas be surprised to see us," she thought happily to herself.

And oh boy was he ever, but that will have to wait for the next story.

_**Water Logged**_

Thomas was puffing along with his two faithful coaches, Annie and Clarabel. He was just thinking about his friends in Tokyo and wondered what they could do be doing now.

"Say Thomas," called his Driver, "isn't that Primula on the platform?"

Thomas grunted, "please don't make those kinds of jokes, you know how much I miss them."

"We're not joking Thomas," called his fireman, "just look ahead to the junction platform!"

Thomas looked up ahead, and he couldn't believe his eyes. He shut them and blinked more than a few times, then he looked again.

"Well I never," he gasped, "it is Primula - and she's not alone, there's Asa, Sia, Nerine, Rin and Kaede too. What are they doing here?"

"I don't know," his Driver answered, "I guess we'll find out soon enough, the junction is just coming up."

Thomas was excited, he seemed to be puffing with a little extra puff today. He finally drew up to the platform, he wheesed his steam and came to a stop. When the steam cleared away, he could see his six Tokyo friends standing close by.

"Hello Thomas," said Kaede happily.

"Hello Kaede, and to all of you too. It's been quite a while since we last spoke."

"It has been a while," said Asa, "it's good to see you again Thomas."

"It's good to see all of you too, but I have to know, why are..."

"Kaede won a contest," Sia interupted before Thomas could ask the rest of the question, "she won six tickets for all of us to visit Sodor for a few weeks."

Thomas was at a loss of words, but his crew wasn't.

"Well we hope you'll enjoy your visit here on Sodor," said the Driver, "but I have to know, where you six going to stay?"

"We're going to be staying at the Sodor Hotel," Kaede answered, "it's not too far from Thomas' branch line."

Kaede was quite right, the Sodor Hotel was indeed not too far from Thomas' branch line. In fact, it's just a simple walk from the hotel to the last station, known as 'Ffraquhar Station.'

As they talked, Asa noticed Percy coming down the line with some trucks full of materials, "Hello Percy!" she called.

"Asa?" Percy was surprised, "welcome to Sodor, love to stay and chat, but I'm needed at the new station!"

And with that said, Percy puffed on past down the line.

"Sorry about that, Asa," Thomas said kindly, "you six have actually come at a very busy time for the branch line. We're expanding our line to a new station beyond Ffraquhar, the line itself is complete, but the station still needs a lot of work to be done on it. Percy's been given the job of taking materials there, while Rosie is doing his jobs."

"And who's Rosie?" asked Rin.

"She's the purple and pink tank engine on our line," Thomas answered, "I'm sure you'll get to see her, as well as some of the other engines that work on this line during your visit."

One of the jobs Percy was given was to help repair bridges and points on the branch line. As part of the Fat Controller's orders, he wanted the line to be in perfect condition for the new station's opening.

One part of the line was a frightful one for Percy. It was a bridge that stood above a stream near Hackenbeck. Percy could still remember the one time when he nearly crashed into the stream.

"That bridge better not collapse underneath us again," he groaned to his Driver, "I don't want to take a bath in that stream."

"Don't worry Percy," said his Driver, "The workmen have been doing alot of work on that bridge, I'm sure it's safe enough for us to cross over."

"I sure hope so," he groaned.

He could see the bridge coming into view. He closed his eyes tight and began to cross it. As he had feared, he could hear a loud creak underneath him.

"You were saying?" he asked his Driver.

"I guess they need to do more work on the bridge than I thought," he said, "in the meantime, we better get off this bridge."

They made it safely across the bridge and stopped near the signalbox, "you'll have to sent a message down the line to inform Thomas not to cross the bridge, cause I'm sure with his weight, the bridge might collapse underneath him," called Percy's Driver.

"Consider that message sent!" called the signalman.

Percy felt relieved at once, and puffed away for the new station.

The signalman went back inside the signalbox and tried to call down the line, but there was a problem. The phone lines were down, no thanks to the storm that Sodor had the night before.

"Darn it," groaned the signalman, "well I guess I'll have to walk across that bridge and inform the stationmaster. At least he's got a cellar phone."

The Signalman climbed down from his signalbox, and walked slowly across the bridge, very slowly.

At this time, Kaede, Rin and Asa were visiting Hackenbeck, they were waiting for Thomas to pass by so they could wave to him.

Kaede was the first to notice the signalman walk across the bridge, then she watched him walk over to where the stationmaster was.

"You have to phone down the line, my lines are down, and I need to warn Thomas not to come by here," said the signalman.

"I'm sorry to tell you this," said the stationmaster, "but I have no way to contact Thomas."

"What do you mean you don't have a way of contacting him?"

"My line are down too, and my cell phone isn't working today."

"Oh that's just great!" he groaned, then he looked at the clock that hang from the roof, "What time is Thomas coming through?"

The Stationmaster went back into his office to check his timetable, then he came out looking grim, "this isn't good, according to my timetable, Thomas is due through here in about three minutes."

"Oh no!" groaned the signalman.

Then they all heard Thomas' loud shrill whistle in the distance.

"Stop Thomas!" Kaede cried, "the bridge isn't safe!"

Rin, Asa and the signalman all joined in the shouting, the stationmaster got out a couple of red flags and started waving them back and forth.

Thomas was rushing towards the station with some trucks full of supplies for the new station. As he approached the station, he could see everyone waving in a frantic way.

"I wonder what's going on," he thought to himself.

As he got closer, he could hear Kaede shouting "Stop Thomas, the bridge isn't safe, it'll collapse underneath you if you cross it!"

"Did you hear..."

"We heard that for sure," said his Driver and slammed the brakes hard on.

Thomas skidded along on the rails, trying his best to stop, but with the weight of the trucks behind him, stopping was difficult.

"He won't be able to stop!" Kaede cried, "he's going to fall into the water!"

The Driver and fireman were thinking the same thing, so at the last possible second, they made a daring jump from the cab and landed on the platform of the station.

Poor Thomas could do nothing, he shut his eyes and awaited the terrible bath.

Thomas skidded past the station, then he rolled onto the bridge. It creaked and it groaned, and then - it collapsed! Thomas went crashing into the water, followed by five trucks of materials. Six of the trucks stayed on the tracks, and so did the brake van.

"What happened?" asked the guard.

"Thomas went crashing into the stream," said the stationmaster. The guard looked ahead to see that Thomas was indeed in the stream, while steam hissed all around him.

"Get me out!" Thomas cried.

The Stationmaster told the guard that they had no way of calling for help, "not to worry," said the guard, "I can call for help with my cell phone."

Soon enough, Harvey the Crane Engine and Terence the Tractor arrived to help Thomas out of the stream. They weren't alone, as the Fat Controller was with them.

"Well Thomas, I heard about what happened, I know this wasn't your fault. I only hope you don't think that water is nothing to an engine with determination."

"No sir," Thomas shivered, "I would never dare think of that."

"Very well then. Now, once you're back on the tracks, I want you to get washed at the washdown, then I want you back on passenger duties until this bridge is repaired."

"Yes sir," Thomas groaned, "but if it's alright with you, I would like to skip going to the washdown, I already had my bath today."

The Fat Controller, the stationmaster, Thomas' crew, the signalman, Asa, Rin and Kaede chuckled quietly at Thomas' joke. At least, they thought it was a joke he just told, it was hard to tell at that moment.

**Author's Note:**

Thomas' dip into the stream was based on the real life event that happened on the Boston & Albany Railroad's bridge. The accident occured in 1907 at Chester Mass., the engine and half it's train went into the rocky stream underneath the bridge, luckily no one was hurt.

_**The Engine That Tipped Over**_

That night, workmen went to work on building a stronger bridge, while Thomas was given a good wash. He was quite pleased to be cleaned at long last, but he was upset over what happened.

"I sure hope my friends didn't get any pictures of that dip," he groaned to himself.

At long last, his paintwork shone like gold, meaning that he was allowed to go back to the sheds.

When he arrived, he was greeted by Kaede and Primula, who had come to see if he was okay.

"Are you okay Thomas?" Primula asked.

"I'm okay my young friend," he smiled, "lucky for me that I fell into the water, it softened my fall."

"Thomas," Daisy called, "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friends?"

"Of course I will," Thomas smiled, "these are a couple of my friends from Tokyo Japan. Primula is the one with the purple hair, and next to her is Kaede Fuyou."

"It's nice to meet you," Kaede said kindly.

"Such nice manners your friends have," Toby smiled, "and if you don't mind me saying so, you two look more beautiful than what Thomas told us."

Both Kaede and Primula blushed a small shade of red.

Percy then cut in, "what about Asa, Sia, Rin and Nerine? Where are they?"

"They're at the hotel," Primula answered, then she went quiet as she always does.

"I wish I could see the city of Tokyo for myself," Daisy sighed, "from what Thomas and Percy have said, it sounds like a wonderful place to be."

"And to think that there are tracks that we could run on," Emily added, "it sounds wonderful."

For the next half hour, the engines and the two Tokyo girls talked about the city of Tokyo and the Little Tokyo Railway until it was time for the girls to go, and for Emily to work the late shift again.

The next morning, Thomas was allowed to take his friends on a tour of the line, then he was to go to the big station at Knapford. He puffed along cheerfully with his two dear old coaches, Annie and Clarabel.

"You have such nice friends, you have such nice friends," they told Thomas, "they were kind to us, they said nice things about us."

Thomas sighed happily to himself, "it's so wonderful to have my friends here on Sodor. I only wish Li and Courtney could see our line for themselves."

"Oh well," said his Driver, "there's always a next time. At least the Fat Controller knows who to call on whenever he needs extra help."

Thomas happily agreed as they came up to the junction for the main line. The fireman got out to change the points, they setted out along the rest of the way to the big station.

"Come along, come along," Thomas sang to his coaches.

"We're coming along, we're coming along," the coaches sang back.

As Thomas entered into the yards, he was in for a shock. James the Red Engine was pulling a goods train and moving over the points from one track to another, but he was going at a fast pace - maybe a little too fast!

"Slow down boy!" shouted his driver, "you need to puff slowly."

James however didn't want to slow down, "I want to get away from this stupid job, and quickly!"

As usual, James was cross about taking a goods train, and wanted to get away from his job quickly.

It's a common rule for all engines on every single railway in the entire world, they are suppose to go over the points at a slow pace to prevent derailments. If James had been focusing on his work, then what happened probably wouldn't have happened at all.

Anyways, James was still making a mad dash over the points with his trucks, when it happened. The first truck behind him bumped over the points and became de-railed.

The bumping it took when it derailed shook the coupling loose, which meant that James was on his own. As he rolled over the last set of points for the line he was suppose to take his train on, he bounced on the points and de-railed as well. Unlike the trucks however, James tipped over to his left and crashed onto the hard packed ballast beside the line.

Luckily, his Driver and fireman had jumped out long before the crash. They walked over to see if James was hurt, luckily he wasn't hurt at all.

"See what happens when you don't slow down," cried his Driver angerily, "now thanks to you, Thomas can't get into the station, and you're holding up traffic on the main line!"

James said nothing, he just sulked and looked at the mess on the main line.

"I've heard about engines having accidents," said Sia, "but I never thought I'd ever see one."

"Bother James," Thomas grumbled, "you know I hate being delayed!"

Edward the Blue Engine soon rearrived with Rocky the Steam Powered Crane.

"Glory me," cried Rocky, "what a mess, not to worry James, we'll get you back up on your line again."

While Rocky went to work, one of the yard workers came over to speak with Thomas' crew, "can you help remove those trucks off those points? No other trains can come in or out of the station until they're out of the way."

"Sure thing," said the Driver, "what do you say Thomas?"

"Of course I'll help," he said, "I don't want any of the other engines to be delayed just because of James' rushing."

Thomas' fireman uncoupled the coaches, then the driver moved Thomas over many points and over to the trucks. Kaede and her friends looked out the carriage windows to see the enitre operation as it went on.

Once over the points and coupled to the brake van of James' train, Thomas' fireman coupled his little engine up then he climbed back into the cab.

"You can do it Thomas," Kaede said quietly.

"Alright Thomas," said his Driver, "easy does it now!"

Slowly but surely, Thomas tugged and pulled, pulled and tugged. James' train was awfully heavy, making it a difficult load to move, even with the derailed trucks uncoupled.

"Pull harder, pull harder!" Thomas panted to himself.

It was a lot of hard work, but at long last, Thomas moved James' heavy train to a lonely siding, then he went back to remove the other trucks. Workmen levered them onto the tracks, one by one, then they were moved away.

"At least Thomas knows how to move us properly," said the trucks, "unlike that James, what a brute!"

James heard and snarled underneath his breath, thankfully though that his snarling was drowned out by the sounds of Rocky's engine at work.

After the mess was cleared, all the engines were able to continue with their work, especially Thomas. He was coupled up to the coaches, then he pulled them to the station platform.

"Sorry about the delay folks," the Fat Controller said as he stood near the coaches, "the little accident that you had witnessed was caused by the careless behaviour of our number five engine, James. I hope you'll accept my apology for the slight delay, I will have some stern words for James later."

"Sir," Thomas called, "what were in those trucks, they were heavy and hard to move."

"That shouldn't be a big surprise Thomas," said the Fat Controller, "those trucks were full of worn out parts that came from the scrapyards where Trevor came from. That was the scrap train, bound for the steel mill."

Thomas groaned quietly to himself, he now understood why James didn't want to take the train, mostly cause every engine on Sodor hates taking 'The scrap'.

In a short while, Edward towed James off to the works, while Rocky was lift in a siding.

"You were amazing Thomas," said Kaede, "you didn't hurt yourself though, do you?"

"Not at all," Thomas said kindly, "we engines are built to pull heavy loads. Granted of course, that train was arranged for a tender engine, that's why I had trouble moving it."

"Sorry about that," said his Driver, "but we couldn't hold up the main line any longer, that's why we made you move all those trucks at once."

"It's no problem, I just hope that James remembers to be careful next time he is to take 'The Scrap'."

"Why do they call it 'The Scrap'," Primula asked.

And so, Thomas explained to his friends about his train, until it was time to continue the tour. Needless to say, the tour was a great one, with another surprise coming up soon, but that's for the next story.

**Author's Note:**

James' 'tipping' over incident was based loosely on the incident of a Pennyslvania Railroad locomotive jumping off the track after rounding a curve a little too fast. The event occured in the Chicago yards on September 16th 1941.

_**Kaede the Hero!**_

As the sun was setting for the end of another perfect day, Thomas was taking his passengers back to the big station, ready for the jounrey back to the branch line, and despite James' 'tipping over' accident, the rest of the trip was uneventful.

Soon enough, Thomas pulled up to the platform to allow more passengers to board. Kaede stepped out for a minute to take some pictures.

"Hello Thomas," called a voice from another platform.

Thomas looked and saw who the voice belonged to - it was BoCo, the diesel engine that works on Edward's Branch Line.

"Hello BoCo," Thomas called back, "what are you doing here?"

"I've been called away from the branch line to bring a goods train here, and take a loaded one back," BoCo then looked to see an orange haired girl taking some pictures of him, "is she a friend of yours?"

"She sure is," Thomas smiled, "this is Kaede Fuyou, she and her friends have come all the way from Tokyo to see our Island."

While Kaede was talking with BoCo about winning the contest, there was a huge uproar coming from the other end of the platform. A passenger was complaining about being late.

"Can you hurry this train up?" he complained to the guard, "I have an important meeting to go to!"

"We'll leave as soon as all the passengers are ready to go."

"Then tell them to hurry up!" cried the man.

"Even if I did, we're not going anywhere until we're allowed to leave. We can't disobey the timetable you know, if we do, then we could get involved in a serious accident."

The man said no more, but he still grumbled as he walked up to the front end of the train. Once he was at the front of the train, he started complaining to the Driver and fireman, but with no success.

At this time, Kaede was just taking a few more pictures of the station - when it happened. No one knew how it happened, but how it happened - happened! The same man that was complaining had pushed his way into the cab and had taken control over Thomas.

"Don't do that!" shouted the Driver, "don't open the..."

It was too late, the man had opened the regulator. Thomas' sudden move took everyone by surprise, especially those were trying to get on board.

"What's going on?" they cried.

"Stop Thomas, stop!" cried Annie and Clarabel.

"I can't," cried Thomas, "some maniac has taken over me. I can't stop!"

There was nothing anyone could do, but watch as Thomas and his coaches left the station, and with speed increasing by every second.

Thomas' guard ran over to the stationmaster's office, and within seconds, all signals were changed and trains had been diverted into sidings.

"That's that," groaned the guard, "but what are we doing to do about a runaway Thomas and a man who's in too much of a hurry?"

For a while, no one had any ideas on how they could help - that was until Kaede spoke up, "we could try to catch up with Thomas by using another engine, then I could make a jump into his cab and bring him to a stop."

"No," said the guard firmly, "that's way too dangerous."

"But we have to try something, and it maybe the only thing we can do."

"Are you sure the plan will work?" BoCo asked.

"It should," said Kaede, "I know it's risky, but I'm willing to give it a try."

"So are we!" called BoCo's Driver.

The guard smiled, "well alright then, but you're not going alone, I'm coming along with you to be on the safe side."

When the stationmaster was informed, he phoned down the line to the signalboxs, then he phoned the Fat Controller about the plan. Kaede and the guard climbed into BoCo's cab, then once they had the 'all-clear', BoCo raced away from the station, light engine.

The news soon got out, and before long, a television news helicopter was flying just above Thomas and his train, hoping to catch the action of the rescue operation.

Poor Thomas was feeling puffed out, but there was nothing he could. Neither could his crew, whenever they tried to stop the man, he would push them aside, nearly knocking them out of the cab.

"Stop!" Thomas cried, "stop please!"

"Not until I get to my meeting!" shouted the man, "so do your best to shut up!"

Thomas did, but not BoCo. Thomas' Driver was the first to hear the horn, then the sounds of a diesel motor. He looked back to see BoCo trying to check up with Thomas. Kaede was standing near the door, trying to time her jump right.

"Don't do it!" cried Thomas, "it's too dangerous!"

"I know it's dangerous!" Kaede called back, "but I'm not one to stand by and let one of my good friends get hurt!"

"Steady!" called BoCo to his Driver.

The impateint man brought Thomas' speed up, the coaches shook from side to side, the passengers on board were scared of what could happen. BoCo's Driver tried to keep his engine steady, but at the same time as bringing his speed up.

"Okay," said Kaede, "here I go!"

She gave her camera to the guard, timed her movement perfectly, and jumped - right into the cab.

"Get back!" shouted the man, "I'm very late for that meeting, I'll return this engine when we get to my stop!"

"You have to stop," said Kaede, "if you don't, then you could cause a serious derailment and hurt Thomas and all the passengers."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take," he said angerily, "now please shut up!"

Thomas' Driver had had enough, he fought for control once more, but ended up fighting the man. Thanks to the Driver, both Kaede and the fireman were able to bring Thomas' speed down together. When they did, Kaede leaned out of the cab and waved to BoCo.

BoCo slowed down, while Thomas was diverted down a runaway siding.

As they puffed into the siding, the man pushed the Driver back hard - right into the brake handle. Thomas came to an abrupt stop, the coaches bumped into each other, passengers fell off their seats and poor Kaede fell out of the cab, right into some bushes.

"Are you okay Kaede?" Thomas called.

"I'm okay," she cried.

The Driver and fireman had to tackle the crazed man out of the cab, he was a stubborn man and not willing to give up.

"I'm late for that meeting, let me go!"

"No we won't!" shouted Thomas' Driver, "you've endangered Thomas and our passengers, and for that, we're not letting you go until the police get a hold of you."

They didn't have too long to wait, cause the signalman at the nearest signalbox had telephoned the police and they had arrived within minutes of Thomas stopping in the runaway siding.

Once the police had the man, who was still fighting to get away to his meeting, the Driver and fireman walked over to see if Kaede was okay. Rin, Primula and Asa came out of the coaches, they were worried for their friend.

"Are you okay Kaede?" Asa asked.

"I'm okay," she said happily, "although, I think that's more than enough excitement to last me for a long time."

"That was very brave of you Kaede," Thomas smiled, "not many people I know would do something like that."

"That girl is a hero!" cried one of the passengers, and they all started cheering for Kaede, who blushed a small shade of red.

When the news helcopter finally landed, just a short distance away, they came over to speak to Kaede about her daring her rescue. She told them all, in pure english, of her plan and what she did.

After a while, BoCo towed Thomas back to the big station, while the man was taken away by the police.

At the big station, the people there cheered for Kaede and called her 'A Really Brave Hero', which was started by the Fat Controller. After a few more minutes, all of the passengers were on board Thomas' coaches and he was ready to go.

As they were leaving, Kaede looked out the window to see people cheering for her.

"I can't wait to till Li and Courtney about this when we return to Tokyo," said Sia, "I doubt they'll believe me when I tell them that our Kaede stopped a runaway train."

Kaede blushed again as her friends continued to congratulate her.

That night, when Thomas returned to the sheds, he told the other engines about what happened.

"I heard all about it from Gordon," said Daisy the Diesel rail-car, "whatever happened to that man?"

"Last I heard," said Toby's driver as he was climbing down from Toby's cab, "the police had to arrest him because he wouldn't stop trying to get away, he was talking about getting to some meeting."

"Even so," said Percy, "that's no excuse for stealing an entire passenger train."

"Indeed," Daisy agreed, "I hope he learns a few lessons from all this."

"Would one of those lessons be to have some patience?" Rosie asked.

"Yes," said Daisy.

Thomas meanwhile didn't say a single word, he mostly thinking about his friend Kaede, and how he could repay her for what she did, but that will have to wait till the next story.

_**Kaede's Night Out With Thomas**_

A few nights after the runaway incident, Thomas was being backed into his berth of his shed after another long day on the branch line. All of Thomas' trains ran to perfect timing, and none of the passengers complained about waiting for Thomas to start.

Thomas was still thinking about how he could repay Kaede for what she did. Little did he know that he was going to get his chance to repay her sooner than expected. As he was being parked inside, who should he spot - but Kaede Fuyou!

"Hello Thomas, how are feeling?" Kaede asked kindly.

"I'm okay," he answered, "you'll be happy to know that no passengers tried to steal me today."

"What brings you by the sheds tonight?" the Driver asked.

"I came by to speak to Thomas, would that be okay?"

"Of course it is," said the fireman happily, "you're than welcome to spend some time with Thomas - as long as you're not planning on spending the night here."

Kaede giggled quietly, "no, it's just a short visit."

In a short while, Thomas' fire had been dropped and his cab had been cleaned out, the crew said their good nights to Thomas and Kaede, then they set off for home.

"So, how are your friends doing?"

"They're okay," Kaede answered, "they're really enjoying the trip here, I know Asa was off visiting the main line engines yesterday and I think Nerine and Rin were checking out the Little Western Line today."

"I'm glad to hear that you guys are enjoying your stay here, even if there has been some minor - er, problems," Thomas cleared his throat at the moment, "did you hear about that man?"

"I did, I only hope that he doesn't try that again."

"You and me both," Thomas muttered.

"You know something, Thomas," Kaede added, "when you first told us about the Island of Sodor, I dreamed of what it would be like, then when we came here, I was surprised by how big it was."

Thomas chuckled quietly, "you're not the first person who's said that."

Kaede giggled along quietly as she climbed onto Thomas' buffer beams and sat on the small platform on the right side of his face. Both of them looked out the small window to see lots of stars in the sky.

"You know something Kaede, when I first met you, you reminded me of someone I once knew."

Kaede looked at Thomas confused, "I did?"

"Yes, she was also kind, sweet and helpful, just like you. She was an american girl who came to Sodor many years ago."

"What was her name?"

"Her name was Stephine. If you would like, I could tell you about her."

"I would love to hear about her," Kaede smiled.

Thomas smiled, then he began his story about Stephine.

More than twenty years ago, a young teenage girl was walking back and forth on the platform at the junction, she had been waiting for a passenger train, but it never showed up. After waiting for a while, she walked over to the stationmaster's office to ask him a question.

"Excuse me sir," she said, "can you tell me when the next passenger train is coming."

"Oh I'm sorry miss," he said, "there are no more passenger trains going through today, only goods trains."

"Oh no," she groaned.

"Tell me young lady, where are you going?"

"I'm suppose to be going home on the next train to Knapford."

The stationmaster looked over his timetable, "Thomas is due to go there in a few minutes, but he's only taking a goods train, it'll be an uncomfortable ride."

The girl didn't mind at all, just as long as she got home.

The Stationmaster walked with the girl to where Thomas was waiting with a goods train.

"Hello Mr. Stationmaster," called Thomas' fireman, "is there a problem?"

"Indeed there is," he answered, "this young girl needs to get back to Knapford station in a hurry. Would it be okay if she rides along with you?"

"I don't see why not, but there's a small problem, our Driver isn't feeling well so..."

"I'm fine," the Driver groaned, red faced and all, "she can come with us to Knapford."

"Thank you very much," said the girl as she climbed on board into Thomas' cab.

Then once the guard's whistle had blown, Thomas was on his way to Knapford with his goods train. Along the way, the girl told Thomas and his crew about herself, that she came from America a few days before, and today had been her first day at school, and finally she told them her name.

Throughout that time, no one seemed to notice that Thomas' Driver was getting worse by the minute.

Once out on the main line, that's when it happened - Thomas heard a loud thump coming from his cab.

"What's going on in there?" he asked.

"Your Driver has passed out," cried Stephine.

The fireman checked to see if his friend was okay, "he's fine, he's just exhausted from the day's work. I told him to take the rest of the day off, but as always, he never listens to me."

"I wish he did," Thomas groaned, "then we wouldn't be a runaway heading for disaster!"

"Oh but we're not," called the fireman, then he looked over to Stephine, "I need you to operate Thomas' controls while I keep the fire going."

Stephine wasn't quite sure, until she looked out the window and noticed Thomas' speed. She knew that she had to do this, so walked over to the Driver's area of the cab, while the fireman moved the passed out Driver near the pile of coal by the bunker.

"Here goes," Stephine muttered quietly, "I hope I can do a good job."

Stephine didn't need to worry at all, she was able to keep Thomas' speed to the correct limit, and once they neared the station, she braked him gently to a stop. Thomas was indeed impressed.

Once the train had stopped, the fireman walked off to the stationmaster's office to ask for help. And within minutes, they had the Driver, who had finally woken up, inside the office to rest.

Stephine however was staying with Thomas.

"Are you sure you've never done this before?" Thomas asked her, "you handled that like a professional would. You not only brought my train and myself in, but you helped to prevent an accident."

Stephine and Thomas looked down the platform and noticed that BoCo was coming in with a goods train, he was being switched from Thomas' line over to another platform.

"Thank you Stephine," Thomas smiled. Stephine blushed happily, then she said her good byes to Thomas and walked off for her home.

"Did you ever get to see Stephine again after that day?" Kaede asked when Thomas was finished telling his story.

"I did, she often came by the junction to see me roll by with my passenger train. She did that until three years ago, since then, I haven't seen her since."

"Why?"

"Well, the reason is because she moved away back to America with her husband and daughter. Last I heard, she's become an author, writing up railroading romance books."

The two were quiet for a while, before Thomas spoke up again, "Kaede, I just want to say thank you again for saving me a few days ago, I promise that I'll find a way to repay you for what you did."

"But you have Thomas."

"I have?" Thomas was puzzled.

"You have," Kaede smiled, "by letting me spend some time with you, and telling me that interesting story about Stephine."

"A story that I have never forgotten," called another voice. Thomas and Kaede looked to the right, and noticed a young woman standing close by.

"Stephine?" Thomas gasped.

"The one and only," she smiled, "and this must be Kaede, the girl who saved the day."

"That's me," she said.

"It's an honor to meet you," Stephine smiled.

"Stephine," Thomas piped up, "can I ask you, what are you doing back here?"

"I came here to see you of course, and also to meet the girl that stopped a runaway. I was wondering if I could write a chapter about you for my next book, 'railroad rescues'."

Kaede happily agreed, and so she told off her story to Stephine, who wrote down every word. Then she asked Thomas of what he was feeling during the runaway.

"Thank you so much for telling me about this," Stephine smiled, "I just know that lots of people will want to read about it. Oh and Thomas, just to let you know, I'll be visiting Sodor for a month, so make sure you keep your eyes open for me at the junction."

"I will," Thomas smiled.

Stephine then turned on her heel and walked away. Once she was gone, Thomas and Kaede continued to talk about the most recent events that occured up to when they were reunited, until it was time for Kaede to go.

"Thomas, here's something I want to give you before I go."

"And what would that be?" Thomas asked. He was due to find out, as Kaede walked up to his front end and gave him a big hug. Thomas blushed bright red, and truth be told, so did Kaede. After the hug, Kaede carefully climbed down from Thomas' buffer beams and walked off to the bus stop, but before she was out of sight, she turned around and waved to Thomas, while he replied back with a wink of his right eye.

**The End!**


	6. Primula and the Branch Line Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 6**_

_**Primula and the Branch Line Engines**_

_**Based on the Original (2009) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Recently, word has been coming in from Thomas' branch line, mostly about the new station and most importantly, a few stories that have been told about our young friend, Primula. She might be a mystery that nobody knows that much about, but one thing is for sure, she's a good friend to all those who know her. Anyhow, I hope that you'll enjoy reading the stories of the little purple haired girl, Primula._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Meeting Primula

-Acting Quickly

-Rin's Gift to Primula

-Primula's Station

_**Meeting Primula**_

Thomas and Percy's friends from Tokyo were indeed enjoying their visit to the Island of Sodor. They were more than impressed with all the places they visited and often took plenty of pictures. Which is what Rin was doing one day as Toby came trundling up to the junction platform, with Henrietta and Victoria in tow.

"Where are your friends Rin?" Toby asked kindly.

"They're off exploring other lines," he answered, "I know Kaede and Primula are with Thomas, Asa is watching Percy at the new station, as for Nerine and Sia, I think they're off exploring the main lines."

"Speaking of main lines," said Toby's Driver, "where is that Gordon? He's late today."

The Stationmaster came over to speak with Toby and his crew, "Gordon's running a little late, he's having some minor boiler problems, but hopefully he'll be coming in real soon."

After the stationmaster left, Toby spoke up to Rin, "tell me Rin, how long have you known those girls?"

So Rin told Toby all that he had told Thomas when he was in Tokyo.

"Primula came just a few days after Nerine and Sia arrived," Rin was saying, "she took me by surprise the day I met her."

"Why, what happened?" Toby asked.

"Well I'd be glad to tell you Toby, if it's okay with your crew."

"It's fine with us," said Toby's Driver as he looked at his watch, "we're not going anywhere for a while. Not until Gordon comes by."

And so, Rin began to tell his story...

For a long time, most of the boys at his school have been trying to fight Rin just because he was always hanging out with Kaede. But when Sia and Nerine arrived, that resulted in more trouble as more boys tried to fight him, mostly cause they thought that Rin was trying to keep all the pretty girls to himself.

As a result of all this, Rin would often have to hide until it was safe for him to come out.

"Why me?" he muttered to himself every time.

One miserable wet and rainy day, Rin left the school at the usual time, but without Kaede, Sia and Nerine. This time, he wanted to be alone.

"Maybe the games at the arcade will help lift my spirits," he sighed to himself, "although at this point, I doubt anything could lift my spirits, let alone surprise me anymore."

Of course, Rin was due to find out that another surprise was awaiting for him.

At the local Tokyo arcade, Primula, the young little purple haired girl, was standing close to a claw machine. She was watching some other girls trying to get some stuffed toy cats, with little success.

"Darn it," the first girl groaned, "stupid machine!"

"Never mind," said the second girl, "there's always next time."

Once the two girls had walked away, Primula walked over to the machine, at around the time that Rin had walked in. Primula tried to use the machine, but it wouldn't work.

"It won't work unless you put money in it," Rin said as he walked over to Primula. She stared at him with her big sad eyes, not saying a single word, "would you like one of those?"

Again, Primula didn't answer him.

Rin reached into his pocket and pulled out some change, only to discover that he didn't have enough money.

"Oh boy," he groaned, "I thought I had enough, I'm sorry," he said kindly and patted Primula softly on the top of her head.

Rin then turned to walk away, but was stopped, mostly cause he could feel someone grabbing the back of his shirt, "I'm sorry," he said again as he looked back and noticed who it was, "but I don't have enough money for the machine."

"Rin," she finally said, "Rin."

"Yes," he said turning around to face her, "my name is Rin, but how did you know my name?"

"Are you..." she went quiet for five seconds, then she spoke up, "do you know Nerine?"

"Are you a friend of Nerine's?" Rin asked.

Within seconds, and without warning, the little girl ran up to Rin and hugged him tightly. Rin had thought for sure that nothing more was going to surprise him, well now he was proven wrong, again!

"Who are you?" Rin asked in a nervous way.

"I finally found you," Primula said quietly.

After a while, Rin was finally ready to return back to Kaede's house, with the young girl still hugging him. She was sticking to him like glue and not letting go.

"I sure hope no one else I know sees us," Rin groaned.

Sadly, tonight wasn't his night at all, as he was seen by one of his other classmates. A brown haired boy named Itsuki, he had to laugh when he saw Rin with Primula.

"Wow, she's quite cute," Itsuki chuckled, "if she's going to be your girlfriend, I'll take care of the others."

"Get out of here now before I hurt you," Rin snapped angerily.

Itsuki chuckled and ran off. But no sooner was he out of sight, then Ms. Ama, Asa Shigure's mother came into view.

"Hello there Rin," she smiled, "I've haven't seen you for a long time, it's so good to see you."

"And it's good to see you too Ms. Ama," Rin said kindly, then he looked down to the young girl that was still hugging him.

"And who's she?" Ms. Ama asked.

"I don't know," Rin answered, "all I know is that she called out my name, then she ran up to me and started hugging me. She hasn't let go once since we left the arcade."

"Hello there young one," Ms. Ama said kindly to Primula, then she looked at Primula's ears, "I wonder," she thought to herself, but snapped out of her thoughts a second later, "well I better get going, I hope to see you around, Rin," Ms. Ama then waved goodbye and ran off.

At long last, Rin finally returned back to the house, only to find Kaede, Sia, Nerine, Eustoma the king of the realm of the gods, and Forbesii the king of the realm of the demons waiting for him with a surprise for him.

"My day sure has been full of surprises," Rin thought only to himself.

Forbesii was the first to notice the young girl behind Rin, "and who's that with you?" he asked, "it's okay, you can come out."

She moved to the left, just a little, she wanted to stay close to Rin.

"Primula," gasped Forbesii, "what is she doing here?"

"Is that her name? Primula?" Rin asked.

"Yes, you might say that she's from our neighbourhood."

Nerine then walked up towards the young girl, "Rimu, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to meet Rin," she said quietly, "I've heard so much about him, and I wanted to meet him, that's why I came."

"You know that you've taken a big risk coming here," said Eustoma firmly, "after the party, we're taking you back!"

"No," she said quietly, "I don't want to go back, I want to stay here with Rin."

To prove her point, Primula hugged Rin even tighter than before. It was quite clear that Primula wasn't going back to where she came from, no matter what the kings said.

Forbesii sighed after a while and looked over to Eustoma, "I think it would be okay if she stayed here, what do you think old friend?"

"I have to agree with you," he answered, "as long as it's okay with Rin."

"It's okay with me, but you'll have to ask Kaede, this is her home afterall."

"Of course she can stay with us," Kaede smiled.

So it was official, Primula was allowed to stay, and even though she never did smile, it was quite clear that she was going to enjoy living here, especially if it meant being with Rin.

"How wonderful," Toby smiled, just as Gordon finally steamed up to the junction station, "but tell though Rin, why doesn't Primula smile?"

"I don't know Toby, she's always been like that ever since we first met her. She's only smiled once, and that was for Thomas," Rin sighed deeply as he looked down to the platform, "to be honest with you Toby, there isn't a lot I know about Primula, I don't know which realm she came from, what she likes and - well, I'm sure you get the idea."

"I do indeed," Toby said gravely.

"The couple of things I know about her is her interest into trains, hence how she met Thomas, and she loves toy cats."

"Is that way she's always carrying that old toy cat with her?" Toby's fireman asked this time.

"Yes," he answered simply, "although I have no idea where she got that old toy cat."

At that moment, the guard blew his whistle and Toby had to go. Rin waved to Toby and his crew until they were out of sight, then he went off to board Gordon's express train, thinking about what he had told Toby.

_**Acting Quickly**_

That night in the sheds, Toby told Thomas, Emily, Percy, Rosie and Daisy what Rin had told him before.

"I've always wanted to know how those two met," Thomas smiled happily, "and now I finally know. Although," he added while chuckling, "I never expected Primula to cling onto Rin so quickly."

"I think it's cute," said Emily quietly.

Even Rosie and Daisy were quick to agree with Emily.

"Thomas," Percy cut in, "where did Primula come from?"

"She came from..." Thomas then stopped at he looked up to the ceiling, and thinking hard, "to be honest with you, I don't know where she came from, she never said."

"She might've come from that place Nerine came from," said Toby.

"The realm of the demons, yes that's probably it."

"And that's probably where her toy cat came from," added Percy.

"Speaking of that toy cat," Emily cut in, "have you engines noticed how worn out it looks?"

"Yes indeed," Thomas added, "for as long as I've known Primula, she's always had that toy cat with her. Although I have to say that the toy cat has seen better days."

"Maybe she's played with it a little too much," suggested Rosie, "maybe that's why it's wearing down."

"You have a good point there Rosie," said Thomas, "but of course we'll never know the answer until Primula tells us for herself."

"She is a mysterious little girl," said Percy as he looked up to the full moon that hung outside of their shed, "it's like she suddenly appeared."

Thomas chuckled quietly, "I don't think she just appeared out of nowhere Percy. I'm sure that she came from a wonderful home like Nerine and Sia have."

"Or Kareha," Percy added quietly, "she's Asa's friend, and she came from the realm of the gods."

"I haven't met Kareha yet," said Thomas, "maybe I'll get my chance to meet her when I go back to Tokyo - ah, whenever that will be."

The following next morning, Daisy was told to stay in the sheds until it was time to bring the workmen to the site of the new station. Toby was to take her passengers along with his own.

"Thank goodness we have Victoria," Toby called Henrietta, "otherwise we would never be able to take all the passengers."

"As proven before," Henrietta agreed. Victoria heard them and blushed happily, she was happy to be a really useful coach.

Percy and Rosie did a doubeheaded run to the new station. They were to bring in some supplies for the station for it's grand opening day. As they puffed past Ffarquhar station, they spotted Primula standing on the platform, standing beside Kaede and Asa.

Kaede and Asa waved happily to the two engines, and they responded back with blows of their whistles. Primula, being her quiet self, remained still and looked at them with her big sad eyes.

"Have a good run," Primula said quietly, but not loud enough for anyone to hear.

At long last, Rosie and Percy arrived at the site of the new station. It looked grand with the brand new bricks, new roofing tiles, new windows and new doors as well.

"I can't wait for this station to open," Rosie smiled, "then maybe we can finally learn it's name."

"I have to agree with you Rosie, that's what's been bugging us for a long time, what is the Fat Controller going to call this new station."

"Maybe he'll name it after someone, like he did with Edward."

"That might be possible," agreed her Driver.

"I just hope it's not going to be named after Thomas. Then he'll go on and on about how important he is to the branch line. He'll never let us hear the end of it," he groaned.

"Well we won't know until the grand opening of the new station," said Percy's Driver, "now come on Percy, we're needed back at the yards."

So once Percy and Rosie had gotten themselves turned around, and shunted the trucks away into the sidings, they set off along the line. Little did any of them know that trouble was lerking quite close to where they were.

Some troublesome boys, who were standing outside of the new station's main office, wanted to have some fun, so they double dared one of their friends to steal something big and metal.

"I can't," said one of the boys.

"What are you?" asked another one of the boys, "are you a scaredy cat?"

"Are you afraid that you'll get caught you big chicken?" teased a third boy.

The two boys laughed at their friend and teased by making chicken noises and little kitten meows. Those words made the boy cross!

"I'm not scared, I'll show you!"

And that's just what he did. As he was walking over to the tracks, he grabbed a long steel pole, slammed it into the ballast and under the rails, and started to push down hard on it.

"Oh," chuckled the other boys, "stealing rails from a railroad, now that's a gutsy move there."

Of course, the boy wasn't going to get away with the piece of track, as he was spotted by the stationmaster.

"Get away from that track!" he cried, "this is not a playground you little vandal!"

The boy heard him and jumped in fright. As he did so, he bumped into the pole hard - a little too hard, and pushed the piece of rail out of place. He quickly got back to his feet and raced off to join his buddies. But of course, they didn't get too far as the workmen caught them and took them back to the station.

Just as they were returning to the station, Kaede, Primula and Asa arrived.

"What's going on here?" Asa asked.

"These little vandals were trying to steal some rails," explained the stationmaster, "they would've gotten away with it, had I not spotted them."

"Don't worry Mr. Stationmaster," said one of the workmen, "we'll take these foolish boys back to your office and call the police. In the meantime, can you check to see if any damage was done?"

"Sure thing," said the stationmaster.

The stationmaster, Kaede and Asa walked over to the tracks, and noticed that the rail had been shifted out of postion.

"We'll need to put it back before Daisy shows up," said the stationmaster.

Just then, they all heard the sound of a diesel horn - there was no doubt in anyone's mind, it was Daisy. The Stationmaster wasted no time in removing the steel pole and slid it under the loose rail. He pushed as hard as he could, and slowly, bit by bit, the rail moved.

"Get out of the way!" Asa cried, "Daisy's coming in - she's coming into view now!"

"Oh no," groaned the stationmaster, "and at the pace I'm going, I'll never be able to get the rail into place and make sure it's secured."

"You can if you, Kaede and Asa work together," this came from Primula, which made everyone gasp.

"Sure that might work, but what's to stop the rail from moving out of place after we've moved out of the way?"

"I'll make sure it stays."

Without asking anymore questions, Kaede and Asa ran over to help the stationmaster - until the piece of rail was back in place. Just as they ran back, Primula looked down to the two pieces of rails - her eyes opened wide - then within seconds, ice appeared on that spot, connecting and securing the rails for the moment.

Then she stepped back as Daisy rumbled into view. She rolled over the tracks, and as luck would have it, the ice prevented the rails from jumping out of place.

Daisy came to a smooth stop, only to find everyone looking at her with concerned looks on their faces.

"What?" she asked, "what's wrong?"

The Stationmaster quickly explained about the vandals and what just happened with Primula.

"Well done Rimu," said Asa happily, "looks like there's more to you than meets the eye."

"That was increible," Kaede added.

Even Daisy was quick to agree with the two girls, "if you hadn't acted as quickly as you did," she said kindly to Primula, "I would've derailed and my passengers would've gotten seriously hurt."

It didn't take too long for the daring act to save Daisy was told to everyone on Sodor. Stephine of course came to speak to Daisy, the Stationmaster and Primula for their sides of the story.

"This is wonderful," she smiled, "first was Kaede's daring act to save Thomas, and now Primula saves Daisy from a near miss. This is going to be a great book."

As for the three troublesome boys - well, let's just say that the police gave them a suitable punishment - they were to help prepare the station for the grand opening celebration. They never once got up to their tricks, especially not with a police officer watching their every move.

And of course, Daisy told the other engines about Primula's bravery.

"That was mighty clever of that little girl," smiled Toby, "I think Asa was quite right in saying that there's more to Primula than meets the eye."

Even Thomas was quick to agree with Toby on that one, "I didn't even know that she could do that," he said, "but I guess it would make perfect sense as the people from the two realms can use magic and powers."

"I only wish we do something to thank her for what she did," said Daisy.

It was at that moment that Thomas' face lit up, "I think I might know a way," he said, "I'm due at the big station tomorrow, I'll tell the Fat Controller about my idea."

"What is it Thomas?" Percy asked.

But of course, Thomas never said what his idea was, so to the other engines, it would remain a mystery for quite a while.

As for Primula, she sat on her bed in the hotel room and thinking back to when she got the toy cat.

"Primula," the voice called out to her as she remembered everything. She remembered looking up and seeing the same toy cat being handed to her, "this is very special," said the voice, "what this toy means is...love."

As she came back to reality, Primula looked at her cat - with a small tear coming down from her right eye.

_**Rin's Gift to Primula**_

As mentioned before, the toy cat that Primula always carried with her was in a sorry state. It had a couple of holes under it's two arms, it's forehead was burst open too and some of the cotton could be seen popping out.

But despite it falling apart, Primula still carried that cat wherever she went.

"That cat must have some sentimental values," Rin was saying to Kaede during the next night.

"I guess so, but she won't say anything. She never says anything to us, not about herself, where she came from or who gave her that toy cat," then she added, "I did see Rimu cry a small tear last night."

"Really?"

Kaede nodded her head as she and Rin looked back to the ever silent Primula, still looking at her toy cat. She patted it softly on the head, rang it's little bell wrapped around it's neck, and moved it's arms up and down. She then felt some more cotton come out.

She got up from her seat and walked over towards Rin and Kaede.

"Look," she said quietly, lifting up the right arm and revealing the torn hole.

"Don't worry Rimu," Kaede smiled, "I can patch up the hole, it'll only take me a few minutes."

"Thank you," she said quietly.

Rin then patted Primula softly on the top of her head, just like he did on the very day that he met her. Then a few minutes later, Kaede gave the cat back to Primula, who thanked her once more and walked over back to her seat.

"I fixed it, but it could still rip again," Kaede told Rin.

Primula had heard this, and no sooner had she sat down at her seat, then a small tear appeared out of her left eye, out of sight from Rin and Kaede, she didn't want them to see her cry at that point.

In fact, the only few who have seen her cry are Thomas the Tank Engine and his crew.

Speaking of the little blue tank engine, he was puffing into Knapford Station with a goods train that was to be shunted into place before taking another goods train back to the branch line.

"Driver," Thomas called, "can you ask the Fat Controller to come out here and talk to me, it's very important."

"Sure thing Thomas," he said. He walked out of the cab, and walked over to the office area.

A few minutes later, the Driver returned with the Fat Controller walking along beside him, "is something wrong Little Thomas?" he asked.

"No sir, not at all. I was just wondering, have you thought of the perfect name for the new station yet?"

"To be honest with you Thomas, I haven't thought of the perfect name just yet. Why do you ask?"

"Well sir, I think I have the perfect name for it. Do you remember what happened yesterday when Primula saved Daisy from that serious accident?"

"I do indeed," the Fat Controller smiled and chuckled, "mostly everyone is talking about that."

"Good to hear, now..." Thomas then whispered his idea to the Fat Controller.

"What do you think of my idea?" he asked after he was finished telling the Fat Controller about his idea.

"Well Thomas, I think it's a very good idea - tell me though, have you told anyone else?"

"No sir, I've kept this a secret from everyone, especially from my Tokyo friends."

"In that case, I'll see to the arrangements right away. You are one clever engine Thomas."

Thomas smiled as he watched the Fat Controller walk away back to his office. His crew asked him what his idea was, but like before, Thomas would not say a word.

"Oh come on Thomas," said his Driver, "we're your crew, you can trust us with this secret?"

"It's not much of a secret," Thomas said simply, "it's more like a surprise, and you'll get to see it when the new station opens."

The next morning was a beautiful sunny day. Kaede, Asa, Sia, Nerine and Primula went off to Knapford to do some clothes shopping, while Rin stayed on the Ffarquhar branch line to take some pictures.

After taking plenty of pictures, Rin rode with Toby's passenger train to Ffarquhar, then he walked into an arcade that was in the town.

"It's even bigger than the one we got back in Tokyo," Rin thought to himself. As he walked inside, he noticed some young kids playing the claw machine.

"Primula was standing close by to one of those machines on the day I met her. She was starring into one of those machines, just looking at - the toy cats inside. That's what she wanted, she wanted a new toy cat."

Rin looked through the glass of the claw machines, but he couldn't find any cats that looked like the one Primula has. He then walked over to a toy store and after searching around for a while, he finally what he was looking for...

At the same time, Thomas was puffing past with a van behind him. He was carrying the new signs and something else special for the new station.

"I wonder what they are," said Thomas' Driver.

"It's like Thomas said," said the fireman, "we won't know until the grand opening."

"Thankfully it's a couple of days away...come on Thomas, can't you give us a hint of what the name is going to be?"

"Nope sorry, but I promised I would not say," he chuckled.

"I think I know," said the fireman and whispered it to Thomas and the Driver.

Thomas gasped, "you weren't suppose to know this. How did you figure it out anyways?"

"I remembered that you asked the Fat Controller about the near miss Daisy had, the name of the station was easy to figure out, but don't worry Thomas, I won't say a word about it."

"Same here," agreed the Driver.

"Thank you," Thomas smiled, "but when the celebration begins, can you act surprised?" The crew happily agreed, which made Thomas sigh in relief.

The girls had had a wonderful day shopping and sight seeing too. They were looking forward to telling Rin about their day when they came to the junction. When they arrived however, Rin was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Rin?" Kaede asked.

"Maybe he forgot that he's suppose to meet up with us here," suggested Sia.

"I don't think so," said Asa, "maybe he's just running a little late."

"I hope he's okay," said Nerine.

It was Primula who spotted Rin running towards them, "Sorry I'm late," he panted.

"There's no need to apologize," said Kaede, "we're the ones who should be sorry for not inviting you along."

"That's alright," he smiled, then he looked down to Primula, "did you have a good time today?"

"I did," she nodded her head and went quiet again.

"Looks like you did a little shopping of your own," said Kaede as she noticed the bag that Rin was carrying in his right arm.

"Yeah, I wanted to get something for Primula."

Primula handed over her old toy cat to Nerine, then accepted the bag from Rin. She reached inside it and pulled out - a light brown toy cat, which came with a couple of brown patches on the top of it's head and near it's belly. The toy cat also came with another toy cat hanging by it's tail.

"I hope that cat is okay," said Rin, "I know it's not like the one you were looking at in the claw machine, but..."

"Nice kitty," Primula said quietly. She then gave it a small hug and held it close to her face, "my cat...my cat," she said quietly.

Just by looking at Primula's smile, Rin could tell that Primula liked her little toy cat.

"This is the first time she's smiled since Thomas was in Tokyo," said Nerine happily.

"It's so sweet," Kaede smiled, "aww."

It was then that Thomas, along with Annie and Clarabel arrived to collect the passengers. Even Thomas was happy to see the young little Primula smile.

"Thank you Rin," Primula said quietly, but still smiling.

"You're very welcome Primula," Rin smiled.

Primula then walked over to Thomas and held out the new toy cat to show him, "Rin gave me this," she smiled.

"That was sweet of him."

"Hey Primula," called Thomas' Driver, "did you notice that your new cat has an extra cat hanging by it's tail?"

"I did," Primula nudged it softly on the left side of her face again.

After a minute, everyone was on board the two coaches, the guard blew his whistle and Thomas puffed away to Ffarquhar station.

Even after they had arrived, Thomas and his crew could see that cute little smile on Primula's face, and of course, she was still holding onto the toy cat that Rin gave her, along with the old toy cat as well.

"Good night Thomas," Primula called quietly, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Thomas smiled as he puffed slowly away.

"That Rin is very kind," said Annie, "just like Thomas."

Clarabel was quick to agree.

"It's good to see Primula smile again," Thomas thought happily to himself, "and soon, she'll have another reason to smile."

Of course during the night, the other engines, except for Toby, asked Thomas of what he and the Fat Controller had planned, but like before, Thomas never said a word.

To be honest here, I think Toby knows what Thomas' idea was, but keeps it quiet to himself as he didn't want to spoil the surprise. What is the big surprise going to be? Well, you'll have to wait till our next story to find out.

_**Primula's Station**_

At last, the day of the station's opening had finally arrived. The engines and the coaches were being cleaned and polished until their paintwork and brass shone like gold in the sunshine.

"I wonder if Mavis is going to be coming to the opening," Percy said out loud.

"Oh she is," Toby smiled, "she said she wouldn't miss this for anything. Plus her manager has agreed to let her come to the celebration."

Emily then cut in, "and we'll finally get the chance to find out what Thomas has been planning."

"Speaking of Thomas, where is he?" Rosie asked, "the last time I saw him, he was puffing out of the sheds just before the sun came up this morning, and he hasn't returned since."

"Come to think of it," said Daisy, "Annie and Clarabel aren't here either."

"Maybe they've been called away for some other job," said Percy, "poor Thomas, he's going to miss the opening of this new station."

The engines and coaches all looked down to their buffers with sad looks, except for Toby, he had a pretty good idea of where Thomas was.

Thomas was up the line being decorated for the event. He was to make a grand enterance just before the Fat Controller was to reveal the name.

"My word Thomas," gasped the Driver, "I've never seen you like this before, for a minute there, I thought you were another engine."

Thomas and his crew just chuckled.

"Now Thomas," called his fireman, "you don't need to worry about someone seeing you, we're well hidden away from the double tracked branch line, so the only time they're going to see you is when we're to arrive."

"That's good," Thomas smiled, "I just hope Kaede, Primula and the rest of our friends are going to the opening."

"Oh they are," his Driver smiled, "the Fat Controller's given them a special invitation, they'll be arriving with Toby and his heritage train."

"This is going to be the biggest event our branch line has had since our first day of service here," added the fireman.

Thomas happily agreed while his Driver got to work in washing the siderods till they shone.

Thomas' fireman was quite right, none of the other branch line engines could see him from where he was, as they puffed off to the station.

Toby puffed along with Henrietta and Victoria behind him and soon arrived at Ffarquhar station where the Tokyo gang were waiting.

"Where's Thomas?" Sia asked, "we haven't seen him pass by yet, isn't he going to the opening?"

Toby only smiled and rolled his eyes, "oh don't worry about Thomas, I'm sure he'll _pop_ in when you least expect it."

None of them knew what Toby was talking about, but felt it best not to ask anything at all. They walked over to the two coaches, climb on board inside of Victoria, then they puffed over to the new station.

"How smooth the rails are," said Henrietta.

"All this hard work is paying off in a wonderful way," smiled Victoria.

Even the passengers had to admit that the ride was one of the smoothest they've ever been on.

Soon enough, they had arrived. Today, the station was covered in lots of decorations, and there was also a clothe covering the name plates.

"It's beautiful," said Primula, who was still smiling.

"I'm only sorry that Thomas isn't here," said Rin, "he's going to miss out on something wonderful."

Before long, Toby and his 'hertiage' train had been shunted into one of the nearby sidings. He did the best he could to cheer the other engines up and said that Thomas might _pop_ in.

The Fat Controller stood before the crowd, he raised his hand for silence, "ladies, gentlemen and engines," he started, "a few years back, it was decided that the Ffarquhar Branch line was to have an overhaul, meaning that now the line is double-tracked instead of single as it's been for years. It was also decided that this line needed another station and yard to help with the increase in traffic, and today, I am happy to annouce that this new station is finally open for business."

The vistitors and engines started to cheer, till the Fat Controller held up his hand for silence once more, "originally, we didn't know what to call this station, that was until a certain blue tank engine came to me and told me his idea for the name..."

The Fat Controller then went silent and looked down the tracks. Everyone else looked too, only to see nothing - then, they all heard a shrill whistle in the distance, followed by the classical sounds of wheels pounding the rails and chuffing noises that only a steam engine could make.

"It's him," Toby smiled, "I knew he would _pop_ in."

"Could it be..." Percy whispered.

After less than a minute, a familar face came into view - it was Thomas! He whistled loud and long, and smiled from buffer to buffer.

"Thomas looks wonderful," said Primula quietly.

At last, Thomas pulled up to the platform and came to a smooth stop.

"Most recently," said Thomas, continuing where the Fat Controller had left off, "some troublesome boys tried to cause a little vandalism, as a result, they nearly caused a derailement."

"It wasn't my fault," shouted the same boy, who was standing near his friends and a police officer, "they dared me!"

"Shut up you," snapped the second boy.

All three subsided into silence when they saw the police officer giving them an angry stare.

"But thanks to the clever idea of one person, Daisy and her passengers were saved from the near miss. After hearing this, I went to the Fat Controller with my idea for the perfect name for it."

Everyone waited as the Fat Controller held onto the cord of the clothe - he finally pulled it, revealing the name 'Primula's Station'.

Primula gasped, then she noticed the Fat Controller removing another clothe from a stone that sat close by. It showed a picture of Primula, with a big smile on her face and a message on the bottom reading 'Primula, hero of the Ffarquhar Branch Line'.

"This is our gift to you Primula," Thomas continued, "from Sir Topham Hatt, our crews and all of us branch line engines."

Primula was still quite surprised, but she did smile once more. Percy, Rosie and Emily were completely shocked.

"Did you what Thomas' plan was?" Emily asked Toby.

"Not at first no," he answered, "but I soon figured it out after a while, but I felt it was best to keep it to myself."

"What a surprise this was," Daisy smiled, "this is the perfect way to thank Primula for what she did."

"I think Primula was more surprised than the rest of us were," said Percy, "if only Courtney and Li could've seen this."

Of course, the two Tokyo engines weren't going to miss out on two much, thanks to the promise made. Rin and Kaede were taking lots of pictures of the event, while Stephine wrote down everything for her book.

Everyone had a great time, especially when it came to the train runs they got with Thomas and his coaches. They ran backwards and forwards along the branch line until the sun was setting for another day.

After the party was done, Primula came to speak to Thomas, "thank you so much, Thomas," she said with an even bigger smile than what she had yesterday, "this is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me."

"You're welcome Primula," Thomas smiled back.

"I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends like you, and of course Rin, Kaede, Asa, Sia and Nerine. I don't know what I would do if I didn't know you. I would be lonely if I didn't know you."

"Well Primula, you don't need to worry about being alone ever again, cause as long as I steam, I'll always be your friend - I'll always be here for you."

"And so will we," said the girls and Rin although.

"And don't forget us!" called the other five engines.

Primula looked back to all of her friends, then she looked back to Thomas with a smile on her face and some tears in her eyes.

"Thank you, all of us," Primula said happily.

At that moment, she ran up to Thomas, jumped onto his buffer beams and gave him a hug - and a kiss. Thomas rolled his eyes more than a few times, while his cheeks went bright red.

"Ladies' engine," Percy chuckled.

Thomas heard him, but he didn't show an angry look, he just smiled at Primula.

"I did say that this was going to be the biggest event our branch line has seen in years," said Thomas' fireman.

"And you were right again," smiled the Driver, as he looked out the cab window to see Primula still hugging Thomas.

The five other engines took their visitors to their proper destinations after the party was over, while Thomas took his friends back to Ffarquhar station. Just before he left for the sheds, Primula looked over to Thomas and gave him a wink, and waved till he was out of sight.

Needless to say, Thomas was sure that this was one night Primula was never going to forget. And you know something, I'm sure Thomas is quite right.

**The End!**


	7. Helpful Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 7**_

_**Helpful Engines**_

_**Based on the Original (2009) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Thomas the Tank Engine has been brought back to Tokyo to help with the heavy workloads. During his visit, he got to meet two more people, the first is an american blonde haired boy named Drew, a kind boy who likes trains and is quite friendly. The second person, I'm really sorry to say, was not as friendly. She's known as the terror queen of Tokyo, and leader of the Tokyo terrors. This person did cause some trouble for the Little Tokyo Railroad, until Thomas, Drew, Kaede and their friends stood up aganist her. Plus, Drew tells a story of a rescue operation to help a friend._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Drew the American Newcomer

-Sakura's Payback

-Stand-Off!

-The Great Mountain Rescue

_**Drew the American Newcomer**_

The trip to Sodor was drawing to a close, which meant that Kaede, Rin and all their friends would have to go back to Tokyo. Primula was upset once again because this meant saying goodbye to Thomas again. Thomas took them all to the docks with a sad look upon his face.

"We're going to miss you Thomas," Primula said to her when they finally arrived at the docks.

"And I'm going to miss you guys too," he sighed, "I only wish I could with you."

"Oh, but you are going back with them," said a familar voice. Everyone looked to see the Fat Controller close by, "the Man in the Suit has asked me if he could borrow you for a while, it seems that one of his engines, Courtney I believe, has broken down."

"How?" Thomas asked curiously.

"I'm not quite sure, the Man in the Suit wouldn't say. Anyways, I said I would send you if you wanted to, I remember the way you acted the last time I told you to go somewhere for a while."

Thomas was silent for a while, then he looked over to the Fat Controller and smiled, "sir, I would love to go back to the city of Tokyo again."

"Very well," the Fat Controller smiled, "you can leave with your friends on the next boat to the city."

After three days, the ship finally arrived in the City of Tokyo. Kaede, Rin and their friends were the first to get off the boat, while Thomas was being lifted out by Rick the Crane, who grumbled loudly. The crane lowered Thomas to the ground with the same treatment as last time.

"I guess he hasn't changed since I was here," said Thomas out loud.

"Ah don't mind him," called another voice, "for as long as I've been here, he's been rude and unruley to all of us."

Thomas looked to see the source of the voice, which belonged to Li the Little Tokyo American Engine. He wasn't alone, as the Man in the Suit was in the cab with Li's crew.

"Welcome back to the railroad Thomas," he said kindly, "it may have been a couple of months, but it seems like forever since you were last here."

"I know the feeling sir," Thomas smiled as his crew got him fired up, "by the way, what did happen to Courtney?"

"I'm not quite sure, I think it might have some something to do with her pipes, or maybe her boiler. The workmen down at the distract are trying to find the source of the problem."

When Thomas was finally given the chance to pull a goods train again, he was nervous at first, that was until he remembered that the trucks in Tokyo were friendly. He passed by all the wonderful sights along the way and soon enough, he puffed up to the warehouse distract.

"Goodness me," cried Masuko, "it's Thomas! Hey Ken, it's Thomas, he's back!"

Ken the Other American Tank Engine came puffing up to where Thomas was, "so it is my friend, how are you doing Thomas?"

"I'm quite well thank you very much, although a lot has happened on Sodor..."

"Oh yes, I heard that Kaede, Primula and the rest of their friends went to Sodor," said Masuko, "did they enjoy their visit?"

"They sure did, Primula especially. So - where's Courtney?"

"Back here!" she called, sounding very weak, "I'm glad you're...back Thomas."

"It feels to be back Courtney. I hope you get well soon."

"That's why I'm here," she chuckled, "to get better and go back to work."

"What is the problem anyways?" Thomas asked Ken.

"Well, we're mostly looking into her boiler for the answers to that," the american shop engine answered, "it probably is her tubes, they are quite old and probably need replacing," Ken then looked over to Masuko, "can you go into the back shop to get the new tubes?"

"I'm on my way!" he cried and rumbled away.

No sooner was Masuko out of sight, then Ken's manager came out to speak to Thomas, "you can shunt your trucks to one of the nearby sidings, Masuko can unload the cargo later. After you're done shunting your trucks, you can take some of the empty trucks back with you to the yards."

"Yes sir," said Thomas.

Thomas' fireman got out to change the points, and within minites, Thomas had all of his trucks arranged into a siding, and he was being coupled up to the empty trucks.

"We're all set," called the Driver, "let's get going!"

The fireman climbed back into the cab and Thomas puffed on his way back to the yards.

Throughout that day, Thomas did his work with no trouble at all, and whenever he could, he would talk with his friends again. He even got the chance to meet Kareha at long last.

Then that night, Li told Thomas all about the events that had occured after he left the city.

"I struggled on," Li was saying, "but I couldn't go on anymore, and what's worse is that I stopped on the main city streets. Thank goodness to Courtney and Ken, otherwise I would've been stuck out there all day."

Thomas smiled, then he brought up an interesting conversation, "on my first trip back to the yards, I saw a couple walking along together, then I noticed a brown haired girl walk up, talk to the boy, then they left without the other girl."

Li looked at Thomas with a serious look, "I see then that you have seen Sakura."

"Who's Sakura?"

"She's known as 'The Terror Queen' of our city, she's done that to every couple she sees. Although, she doesn't stay with the guy for too long, she dumps him when she gets bored."

"How do you know that?"

"I've heard about that many times either shunting trucks or pulling smaller passenger trains. Plus I've seen it for myself."

"She sounds like a bad person then."

"You're not joking," Li grumbled, "and as if that wasn't the worst part about that girl, she's also the leader of a dangerous gang, that's why she's called 'The Terror Queen'."

"I'm surprised that I never heard of that girl before."

"Hardly anyone speaks of that girl, mostly everyone is scared of that girl and what she might do. From what you have described to me tonight, that the boy and girl are now victims of Sakura's sick twisted game."

The next morning, Thomas was kept busy with shunting lots of trucks in the yards until around lunchtime when his crew went off to lunch. As he rested, Thomas looked all around the yards and smiled, "it feels so good to be back in a wonderful city."

Then he noticed a teenage male with blonde hair walking towards him.

"Hello there, I'm..."

"You're Thomas the Tank Engine, am I right?" the boy asked.

Thomas gasped in surprise, "you know me? But the books and telelvision series haven't made it to Tokyo."

"I know that," said the boy, "but I have read your books and seen your show when I was in America, I just recently moved here a few days ago, my name is Drew."

"It's nice to meet you Drew," then Thomas heard some more footsteps on the platform, it was Kaede, Rin and Primula, they had come to see him, "what perfect timing. Kaede, Primula, Rin, this is Drew, he says that he moved here a few days ago."

"Where did you come from?" Kaede asked sweetly.

"From Austin Texas," he answered.

It was then that Thomas noticed a brown haired girl walk up to the platform, it was Sakura, the same girl that he saw yesterday.

"Well, well, well," she chuckled, "What do we have here, an american boy. How interesting."

Thomas looked at the girl with a serious look on his face, Sakura saw him and walked to him, "and what seems to be your problem?" she asked him in a nasty way.

"Nothing at all," Thomas muttered.

"Thought so," she snickered, then she turned around, making her pink tails slap Thomas in the face. She then walked back over to Drew, "why don't you and I go out for a while, I'll give you a night you won't forget."

"No thank you," Drew said, "I'd rather hang out with my new friends for a while. If that's okay with all of you?"

"Of course it is," Kaede smiled.

And so, the four of them walked away from the platform to check out the many sights of Tokyo. Sakura watched them leave in shock.

"That did not just happen," she said angerily.

"Oh but it did," Thomas chuckled, "and if you ask me, you deserved it, after all that you have done."

Sakura spun around to look at Thomas, but he wasn't there. His Driver had returned a few seconds ago and was now taking him off to do some more work.

At the end of the day, Thomas told Li about Drew and what was said to Sakura.

"Good for you two," Li smiled, "it's about time that that girl was taught a lesson, she deserved all of it."

"Li, you did say that she is a dangerous girl, do you think that she'll..."

"Nah, she won't be able to get back at us. We're engines after all, and I doubt she'll be stupid as to try to harm our friends, so I wouldn't worry too much."

"If you say so Li," deep down though, Thomas had his worries.

Thomas had every right to worry. Sakura wasn't happy and now wanted payback, "I'll make them pay, and that includes the blue train, they'll pay for this!"

What does Sakura have planned, well that will have to wait till the next story.

_**Sakura's Payback**_

"You shouldn't have tried to stand up to Sakura," Courtney was saying to Thomas when he told her, "she is very dangerous."

"How dangerous could she be?"

"Very dangerous - I remember hearing from my crew that one couple who tried standing up to Sakura and ended up going to the hospital," Courtney shuddered at that moment, "as the leader of the Tokyo Terrors, when Sakura wants something, her gang gives it to her."

Thomas gulped when he heard this, then he asked, "do you think she'll do something to harm Kaede, Drew or...me?"

"I don't know Thomas, I really don't know, but I would advise you to watch out for this girl and her gang, and please don't get yourself in trouble again, the last thing our line needs is to have two broken down engines."

Thomas agreed and promised to be careful.

And for the rest of the day, Thomas did his best not to make eye contact if Sakura or any of the members of her gang came along. He didn't feel safe on the railway anymore.

Li in the meanwhile wasn't afraid at all. Whenever he saw Sakura walking down the streets, he would blow his whistle loudly and make her jump. Everytime he did that, she would jump in fright and scream like a young child would.

"You'll be sorry that you did that!" she cried.

"Yeah right," Li chuckled and puffed off.

This went on all day, and the next day too. Kaede, Drew and Thomas all warned him not to make Sakura mad, but he would take no notice.

"You guys seem to forget something," Li was saying, "Thomas and I are steam engines, Sakura can't hurt us, so stop worrying yourselves over this."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Kaede said in a worrying way, "she'll find a way to get back at you..."

"It's no use Kaede," Thomas whispered to her, "it's a shame really, but I think Li is going have to find that out for himself."

"Like several engines on Sodor have experienced before," Drew said quietly.

Two days later, Li was shunting some trucks into the dockyards, all of which were ready to be loaded up before being taken off to the distract. Just as he was arranging the last of his trucks into place, the yard foreman came up, "I'm sorry to bother you Li, I know you are busy, but I was wondering if you could move your other train of coal trucks to a different siding, Thomas needs that siding when he comes back from the shops."

"Sure thing sir," said Li.

Li's fireman uncoupled the american shunter from the trucks, then they puffed off for the yards. Unaware to anyone, a sneaky figure was hiding behind some of the crates - it was Sakura.

"He's the first to feel my wrath," she snickered, "I'll teach him to never scare me out of my wits."

When no one was looking, she scrambled from behind the crates and jumped into the first van of the train. She was a very good hider as none of the workmen saw her while loading the van.

At last, Li returned and was coupled up to the trucks, then he puffed slowly to the distract.

Once at the shops, Masuko and the workmen worked hard in emptying the trucks, while the sneaky Sakura snuck her way into Li's next train without being seen. How she wasn't spotted is beyond a mystery.

Of course Courtney gave Li a warning as well, but he took no notice.

"I wouldn't worry too much about her, it's not likely that she'll be able to pull off something that could hurt my crew or I."

Before Courtney could say anything, the guard's whistle blew and Li puffed away with his train. Ken pulled up alongside Courtney.

"Was he always like that when you two were going from one place to another?" she asked.

Ken sighed unhappily, "I hate to say it, but the answer is indeed yes. He's always been like that, and usually it take a real serious accident to make him see that he's wrong," Ken paused and looked to the back of the shops, "I'd better clear a line back there."

"Why?"

"For when Li is shunted in here, it's bound to happen," and Ken puffed away, leaving Courtney stumped.

During the run back to the yards, Sakura kept herself well hidden, while she planned out her scheme.

When they arrived at the yards, Li's Driver went off to change the points, while the fireman checked over Li's moveable parts to make sure they were working perfectly - this was Sakura's chance for payback!

She leapt from the van and climbed into Li's cab.

"Driver? Is that you?" Li asked.

Li got no answer - instead, he felt a hand on the regulator. Sakura opened on the regulator and made her way to the stairs on the left side of Li's cab. She jumped out, just as Li started off down the tracks.

"Li!" cried the fireman, "where are you going?"

"I don't know," he cried, "Stop me! Please!"

Of course there was no reply from the cab, Li was running on his own!

Li's Driver had just reached the points and was about to switch them, when he noticed his engine coming towards him. He ran off the tracks, only to bump into the lever, which changed the points. Li's Driver moved out of the way as his engine went past him - that's when he noticed his mistake...

"Oh no!" he cried and ran after his engine.

He wasn't alone as Li could see the line of trucks that he had shunted before on the line just ahead of him.

"HELP! HELP!" he cried.

His yelling got the attention of the Man in the Suit, who rushed out of his office to see everything - he could see Li going too fast along the sidings, and seeing Li's Driver running after his engine.

"This isn't going to end well," the Man in the Suit muttered to himself.

And he was going to be proven right...

Li shut his eyes and prepared for the crash...Li bashed into the back end of the train and somehow went up and went crashing onto one of the trucks. Five of the trucks he had brought back either tipped over to their sides or bounced off the tracks.

The Man in the Suit rushed back into his office to phone up the line, while Li's fireman went to find Thomas and Nora. In no time, they were hard at work to clear up the mess while Li remained on his truck. Ken soon arrived, right around the time that Drew, Kaede and Rin arrived.

"Oh my gosh," Drew gasped.

"How did this happen?" Rin asked.

No one did answer him at that moment - that was until Li and his broken truck were towed to the sidings by Ken. By this time, the Man in the Suit wanted to know how this could've happened.

"I think someone had been fiddling around in my cab," Li groaned, "cause there's no way I could move off on my own."

"But now the question - who did this?" the Man in the Suit asked.

Out of the corner of Kaede's left eye, she could see Sakura the troublemaking girl walk away from the railway as if nothing had happened.

"First Courtney fails, and now Li goes riding on trucks," the Man in the Suit groaned, "could this get any worse?"

They were due to find out the following next morning. When Thomas was brought out of the sheds, and the doors had been closed, his crew gasped to see a message painted in bright red paint on the doors.

It read "Nobody makes a fool out of me, should they try, then I will make them pay. So beware of the Tokyo Terrors, or you'll we'll get you like we did with that grey train! Signed Terror Queen.'

Reading that message, even in japanese, made Thomas and his crew shiver in fear.

When the Man in the Suit saw the message, he groaned in disbelief.

"I had to open my mouth," he groaned, then he looked up to Thomas, "you'll be happy to know that you won't be working alone for too long, as Courtney is coming back in a few hours."

"That is good news sir," said Thomas as he looked back to the message on the door.

"I'll phone the police and inform them about this - I just can't believe this," the Man in the Suit walked off back to his office, just as Nerine, Kaede, Rin and Sia came walking over to the sheds.

"She strikes again," Sia groaned, "she painted the same message on the fence of my home."

"Mine too," said Nerine.

"Vandalism and destruction to private property," Thomas' Driver said quietly, "she really is a terror."

"The Tokyo Terror queen to be honest with you," said Rin, "someone who's never been caught by the police. She always finds a way to escape, according to what we hear."

"She has to be stopped before someone else gets hurt," said Thomas.

"Maybe so, but how?" Kaede asked curiously. No one answered the question, mostly because there was no answer - at the moment.

**Author's Note:**

This story is based on the almost improbable real life event of an engine of the Chicago & Alton railway that climbed right onto a freight car that had been loaded with coal. The event did happen though as the engine rammed the freight car from the rear and ended up inside the car, just like in the story. When and where it happened is unknown.

_**Stand-Off!**_

When the police were told of what the Tokyo Terrors had been up to, they went all around the city to arrest them and their leader, Sakura. For two nights, the police managed to take down lots of members of the Tokyo Terrors group, but everytime they tried to get information about where their leader is hiding out, they would always get...

"That's for you to know and for us to find out."

It was clear that they didn't want to reveal where Sakura was hiding. Although, with each day that passed, she could easily be spotted as she watched the trains at the Little Tokyo Railroad, then she would disappear, laughing as she did.

"It won't be long now," she snickered quietly, "I'll teach that blue train a lesson, then that blonde boy."

Despite her threats, the trains ran on as normal with both Thomas and Courtney on the front end of them, and their friends still came by to see how they were doing, but they worried for their steam engine friends.

"Anything could happen the next time she comes into the yard," Rin was saying, "if it could happen to Li, then there's no doubt she'll try to get back at Thomas..."

"Or Courtney," Nerine muttered.

"Sakura's got to be stopped somehow," said Thomas.

"The police have tried to capture her," said Drew, "but everytime they try, she somehow manages to make a grand escape."

"Well the good news is that she hasn't been spotted around here for quite some time," Courtney piped up, "not with all the police officers and workmen in the yards watching out for her."

"Hopefully though that she'll get caught before someone else is seriously hurt," said Thomas the Tank Engine.

Everyone else agreed with Thomas and hoped the same thing as well...

However, Sakura's capture wasn't going to be happening anytime soon, she still had her gang, or what was left of it, and every night, they would cause vandalism and robbed from stores.

"They should remember who they are dealing with," Sakura snickered, "I am the Terror Queen after all and nothing can stop me!"

By the end of the night, the damage could be seen - store windows had been smashed to bits, grafitti could be seen on the walls and doorways of a few buildings and even the trucks were painted with threatening messages...

"Beware of the Tokyo Terror Queen!"

The trucks were not pleased to have been painted like that, and neither were the Man in the Suit and the engines.

"First she makes Li crash into some of our trucks, and now this," Courtney was not impressed in the slightest, "if I ever see that girl I'll..."

"Most likely get thrown off the rails," Thomas interupted.

Courtney looked at Thomas with an angry look, "I think I can handle the Tokyo Terror Queen."

"Not on your own," Thomas said firmly, "I'm just as mad as you are, but if you try to face off aganist Sakura on your own, she will take action and hurt you like she did with Li."

"Then what do you suggest then?"

Thomas looked over to the yards and noticed Drew, Asa, Kaede and Rin walking over, "I think I have a pretty good idea on how to bring the Terror Queen down."

He waited till his friends had arrived, then he spoke of his plan...

"It's useless to face off aganist her one by one, but if we all stand together, then we have her caught and ready to go to the police."

Everyone in the yards thought that this would be a good idea and worth trying. So Thomas' Driver went to confirm all of this with the Man in the Suit...

That night, Thomas was parked outside of the engine sheds, he was still in steam with only his fireman in the cab. Courtney was hidden on one side of the shed, ready to block the path, and so were their friends as well.

"Let's hope Thomas' plan works," Drew muttered but loud enough for everyone close by to hear.

"It should work," Asa said quietly.

They waited for almost thirty minutes, then at last, Sakura arrived. She was on her own this time.

"I've been looking forward to this," she snickered, "now I'll make that silly engine pay."

She walked up to Thomas, who was pretending to be sleeping, but was really awake and ready to put the plan into motion. Just as she was about to walk into the cab, she got quite a shock...

"You're not allowed to be here," the fireman said firmly.

"Dart," she groaned.

She then tried to run off, but was indeed cut off by Courtney, who had moved into postion. She tried to get past, but each time she found herself an opening, she was blocked by Rin, Drew, Kaede, Asa, Sia, Nerine, Thomas' Driver and the Man in the Suit.

"There's no where you can run Sakura," Thomas called, "You've been caught!"

"No!" she cried, "I will not be caught by the likes of you!"

She tried again and again to get away, but would find her path blocked, and what was worse...Thomas and Courtney were blowing their whistles loudly to call for the police. First were three short peeps, then three long ones, and finally three short peeps.

"There must be a way to get away from these fools," and that's when she noticed a truck nearby, "so long suckers!"

She ran over to the truck with everyone following behind. She pushed hard, but the truck didn't move at first. Before long though, she got it moving, she grabbed a hold of the hand rails and held on for dear life.

"I told you that you would never be able to capture the Tokyo Terror Queen," she chuckled.

Her joyride however wasn't going to last that long as she came up to a bad section of track that was in need of repairs. As she passed the dockyards, her truck rolled over the bad part of track and started to tilt from side to side.

"Oh double dart!," she cried.

Then it happened - her truck bounced off the tracks and crashed off the tracks and smashed on impact a few feet away. As for Sakura, she layed there on the hard packed ballast with a few cuts and bruises, but the worst injury she had was a broken bone in her left leg.

Her cries of pain could be heard for less than a mile. Help soon came in the form of two steam engines, the police and paramedics.

"She's definetly broken a bone," said one of the paramedics, "we need to get her to a hospital."

"Very well," said one of the officers, "then we'll take her to jail after that. She won't be causing anymore trouble for anyone now."

"Dart, dart and double dart," she groaned in pain, "or in this case, triple dart!"

They had to take Sakura back to the crossroads by train, then they got her inside an ambulance and drove off to the hospital.

The next morning, the Man in the Suit came over to speak with the engines, "the police have phoned to say that Sakura's injuries have been dealt with and now she's in jail, they asked me to thank all of you for helping out in capturing her."

"If you should thank anyone sir," Courtney piped up, "you should be thanking Thomas, for it was his idea."

"Yes indeed," the Man in the Suit smiled, "Thomas, you are a clever engine and a brave one too, not many people or engines in this case would dare go up aganist the Terror Queen and capture her."

"You should be proud of yourself," Drew smiled.

Thomas smiled, "just wait till the Fat Controller hears this."

"Oh but he has," the Man in the Suit chuckled, "I phoned him this morning and told him of what happened, and he asked me to tell you that he's really proud of you."

Thomas was a loss of words, but his firends certainly weren't...

"Just think Thomas," his Driver smiled, "you once helped to stop a couple of car theives and now you've helped into stopping Sakura's dangerous game, maybe for now on we should call you 'Thomas the Police Engine'."

There was a moment of quiet chuckles from everyone in the yards.

"Thank you sir," Thomas smiled, "but I know I couldn't have stopped Sakura on my own, I think everyone here deserves a few special thank yous for all their help too."

Once again, that started up a loud chrous of cheers and whistles from the engines. And when Li found out what happened, he groaned loudly, "oh I wish I had been there to see it for myself."

And as for Sakura, well - she won't be causing anymore trouble to the City of Tokyo or to the Little Tokyo Railway for a long, long time.

**Author's Note:**

Sakura's little truck ride is based loosely on a real life event where some young boys stole a slate truck and took it for a joyride down the tracks, only to crash. Some escaped with broken bones and others with minor injuries, thankfully the truck ended a bit of a distance away from them. This incident occured on the Corris Railway in the 1800s.

_**The Great Mountain Rescue**_

The night after Sakura was taken off to jail, Li came puffing into the sheds and parked himself in between Courtney and Thomas. At this time, their friends were visiting the sheds and were having a friendly conversation with the engines.

"...after Sakura's capture, the rest of her gang all surrendered to the police without a fight," Sia was saying.

"And so ends the Tokyo Terrors," Courtney smiled.

Then all eyes looked over to Drew, "are you happy living here Drew?" Primula asked in her quiet way.

"Yeah, I'm happy living here," he smiled, "and I'm also happy to be know all of you, especially the Little Tokyo Engines and Thomas too."

"What was your home like?" Li asked.

"Well, it was a nice little town, with lots of interesting places to see. Although on rare occassions, my friends and I used to go to the nearest town with a mountain and do some mountain climbing, it was a lot of fun, although," he paused, "there was one time when I had to perform a rescue up on that mountain."

"Please tell us about it," everyone said in unison.

And so, Drew began to tell his story...

It was a misty day up at the mountains, Drew and his friends were doing their usual mountain climbing. Before they went up, they checked to make sure they had all of the proper equipment they needed, as they didn't want anything to go wrong. Then once they were ready, they began to climb up the mountain.

One of Drew's friends, who was named John, was climbing a little faster than everyone else.

"Slow it down John!" cried Ted, one of Drew's other friends, "if you don't take care, then you're bound to get into trouble."

But John payed no attention, he wanted to get going in a hurry, "there's no danger here," he joked, "I've got all the equipment I need to get to the top of this mountain and I know what to do and what not to do, so stop worrying so much."

"He's only asking for trouble," Ted said to Drew.

"No kidding, I wouldn't be surprised if before the end of the day if he had an accident and one of us had to safe him."

Well Drew was proven partly correct...

They soon reached the halfway point of the mountain, the three boys decided to have something to eat and drink before continuing on. Just as Ted was about to eat his sandwhich, they heard some loud shouts from below them...

"HELP!" a young girl's voice called, "someone help!"

"Drew," Ted called, "where are those binoculars?"

"I got them in my backpack, hold on a second..." Drew reached into the backpack and pulled out the binoculars and gave them to Ted.

Ted looked around the mountain until he could see the source of the trouble - a young teenage girl had fallen down the mountain and was badly injuried. When Drew was given the chance to look, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.

"I remember seeing her," he said, "she and a friend of hers always takes risks up on this mountain, they've had a few close calls before, and by the looks of things now, she's gotten herself into trouble."

Ted looked over to John with a serious look, "see what happens when you rush and take risks?"

John didn't say anything. Drew in the meanwhile was hooking up alot of mountain climbing equipment, "I'll go there and help her up here. Ted, you keep an eye on the rope, and John, you do us a huge favour and stay here."

"Oh joy," John groaned.

Soon enough, all was ready.

"Alright Ted, listen up, if I pull on the rope twice, you and John will have to pull us up."

"You got it buddy."

Drew then began to move slowly down the mountain, "easy does it, easy does it," he kept muttering to himself. It took about five minutes before he finally reached the injuried girl.

"Hello Melissa," he said, "I see you and Janet have gotten yourselves into trouble for once."

"It's not funny," Melissa groaned, "Can you help me please?" she asked in pain.

"Sure, but first I have to know, where is Janet?"

"She went back down the mountain to get help, but she's been gone for quite a long time."

Drew pulled out his radio, "Ted, we got another problem, Melissa's friend Janet went off to get help sometime ago and hasn't been seen since, can you try looking her."

"Will do," Ted responded.

So while he looked to find Janet, Drew attended to Melissa's injuries as best as he could.

"I found her," Ted called back a little while later, "she's at the bottom of the mountain with the paramedics, I don't think they'll be able to reach you down there."

It was John who spoke up next, "Drew, if you can get Melissa up here, we can get her to a wide open space along this pathway, we'll radio them to send up a helicopter."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Drew smiled, "We'll be up there as soon as we can."

And so the plan was put into motion, after making some minor adjustments, Drew and Melissa started to climb up the mountain again. Melissa of course wanted to go fast, mostly because she was in pain and wanted to get to a hospital soon, but Drew remained firm and told her to slow down.

After seven minutes, they came back to the spot where the boys had set up camp, then they walked over to a wide open space. They waited for three minutes until the helicopter arrived and took Melissa and the boys to the hospital. It took almost two months for Melissa to recover from the accident, but when she did, she showed more respect to the rules of mountain climbing, and so did John.

And ever since that day, the five of them would take care and not take risks when climbing up the mountain.

"Wow!" Li gasped after the story was told, "now that's what I call a rescue operation."

"You were very brave that day," Kaede added while smiling.

"Well, I did what anyone of us would've done," Drew smiled.

"So what happened with Melissa, John and Janet?" Thomas asked.

"Well it's like I said, they learned to take better care while mountain climbing, and as for the two girls, they became good friends of ours. Melissa and I actually started going out shortly after she recovered and now we're boyfriend and girlfriend."

"How sweet," Kaede smiled.

"She's going to really miss you though," said Sia, "after all, you are here and she's all the way back in the states."

"Yeah, but I won't have to wait too long to see her and the rest of my friends again, they'll be coming by during the summer for a visit. Personally, I'm looking forward to introducing them to you guys."

Work continued on as normal for the next few days, Thomas, Li and Courtney went back forth along the line with their loaded trucks for the distract or for the docks, and just like when Thomas first arrived in Tokyo, the engines did every job without any trouble at all.

The Man in the Suit was once again impressed with all the work that had been done.

"I'm very impressed with all three of you," he smiled, then he looked at all three with a serious look, "in light of the most recent events that have occured, I've decided it's about time to bring in a new engine. He's being rebuilt as we speak and will be here in possibly a month."

"Sir," Li piped up, "does this mean that Thomas and the other Sodor engines won't be allowed to come back again?"

"No Li, they're always welcome to come back here anytime we need them."

"Excuse me sir," Thomas piped up next, "but where is this engine coming from?"

"Well Thomas, he'll be coming from the Other Railway in England, but that's all I can say about this engine until he arrives that is."

"Maybe so, but I won't be here when he does."

"Maybe not," said Courtney, "but you might get your chance to meet him during your next visit to our line."

"That's true," Thomas smiled.

Of course now with both steam engines back in service, this meant that Thomas had to go back to Sodor. The very next morning, all of his friends and the two engines met up with him at the docks to say goodbye. Primula of course gave him a kiss on the cheeks, which made him blush and roll his eyes.

"He is a lucky engine to get a kiss from a girl," Drew whispered to Kaede, who giggled in a happy way.

Then they all watched as Thomas was lifted on board the ship by Rick the Crane, who grumbled like anything. Then they waved until Thomas and the ship was out of sight.

"It sure has been a wonderful trip," Thomas thought happily to himself, "I can't wait to tell Percy and the others all about it."

With that said, Thomas closed his eyes and went happily to sleep, thinking about the next time he went to the city of Tokyo and wondering who this new engine was going to be.

**The End!**


	8. Li the Little Tokyo Engine

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 8**_

_**Li the Little Tokyo Engine**_

_**Based on the Original (2009) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Li the American Tank Engine is a loyal hard worker on the Little Tokyo Railroad, but ever since he's arrived with his brother Ken, he hasn't had a single book to himself, well I think it's about time for him to have one. I heard alot of interesting events that happened to Li from his loyal friends, some of those stories were quite surprising to say the least, and at times they were daring as well, but I mustn't reveal everything at the moment, you'll have to read the book to find out what happened. I only hope this will make Li happy when he finds out that he has a book to himself._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Head On Shot

-Li & the Steel Bridge

-Dog's An Engine's Best Friend

-Dash Through to Safety

_**Head On Shot**_

Li the American Tank Engine loves the work he does, he can haul goods and passenger trains, and like Courtney, he comes complete with knuckle couplings. He proudly wears the name of his former railroad 'Pennsylvania' on the sides of his tanks, along with his original number '2469'. He's very proud to be one of the many engines to be working on such a fine railroad, instead of sitting inside of a museum.

One morning, the Man in the Suit came to see his two engines, "There's a lot that needs to be done today," he said as he looked at his timetable, "Courtney; you are to take the passenger special, and Li; you are take a goods train down to the workshops."

"Yes sir," the two engines said in unison.

"I wonder what it is I'll be carrying," Li was saying to Courtney after the Man in the Suit left.

"Search me," she said, even she wanted to know what Li was going to be taking.

Once they had steam up, their crews took the two engines off to the railyards. Courtney was coupled up to five coaches today, while Li took his empty trucks down to the dockyards for Rick the Crane to load up.

"It's about time you got here slow poke!" Rick cried, "I could've rusted away to nothing if you had arrived later."

"Yeah right," Li chuckled, "do you even think before you speak?"

"Shut up!" Rick snapped angerily.

Li chuckled again, "just as I thought, out one ear and out the other."

Rick continued to grumble as he loaded up Li's trucks, then once all was ready, Li puffed off to the warehouse distract and the shops his brother Ken worked at.

As he puffed along, people waved to him in a polite way and some even gave him a salute.

"This is my kinda home," Li thought happily to himself, "it's a lot better than some of the lines we've worked on in the past," Li was thinking back to that railroad in the west, the same that had been covered in that sandstorm.

He soon pulled into the workshops, Ken was waiting there for him.

"Ah Li, glad to see ya, and with the load too, most excellent."

"Thanks Ken, but what is this load for?"

"These are suppose to be diesel parts," Ken's manager explained as he walked up beside the American tank engine, "after we heard that the line is to be getting a diesel soon, we've been ordering lots of diesel parts just in case."

"I get it," Li smiled, "in case the new diesel breaks down."

"Correct Li, but I doubt that will be happening for a long time."

"Still, do you guys know of the new engine's name?"

"Nope sorry," answered Ken as he looked down to his buffers, "the Man in the Suit is keeping that a secret until he arrives."

After the little conversation was done, Li went to work in arranging the trucks for his next train. Once arranged, he blew off a friendly blow of his whistle and started off for the yards once more.

At this time, a man was coming up to one of the few crossings on the line. He had just dropped off his friend at the local airport and was now driving off for home. As he came to the crossing, he could hear a weird clanging noise coming from the engine. He pulled over to check the engine, but once he stepped out, he was in for a shock...

"Oh no," he groaned, "I've stopped on the railway line, I better get my car off the crossing."

And that's what he tried to do, but the car wouldn't move.

The man just groaned, "oh why didn't I bother to have this stupid engine checked over? If I had done that, then maybe it wouldn't be stuck on the tracks..."

At this time, Asa was passing by, she and her mother had most recently gotten themselves a new video camera and wanted to film Li pass with his goods train. They had just gotten it ready for use and had turned it on for a test when they saw the car come into view. And now, they watched the man trying to push his car off the tracks.

"Darn it," he groaned, "the brakes must be locked on tight, that's all I needed."

Just then, they heard a loud whistle - it was Li's whistle, and by the sounds of it, he was coming to the crossing. By now, a police officer arrived and asked the man to stand back from the tracks.

"Can't you do anything to save my car?" the man asked.

"I don't know if I can, I'll see what I can do," he radioed to his headquarters and asked if they could get in contact with Li's crew and stop the train.

"He's still a bit of distance away," Ms. Ama called, "maybe you can save the car."

"Maybe," said the officer, "I do have some jumper cables, just give me a second here..."

After a minute and a half, the man turned the keys of his car - it started up perfectly, "yes!" he cheered, "now to move my car off the tracks."

He tried to pull a 'wye' turn, but to his disappointment, it stalled once again - with it's nose pointing down the line. The man tried again and again to start the engine, but it was no use.

"I think your engine is dead," Asa called while still filming.

"That's just great," the man groaned.

Just then, they all heard Li's whistle, he was getting closer to the crossing. The officer's radio came back on, "sorry buddy, but we weren't able to stop the train - clear everyone away from the crossings."

"Right," said the officer, and that's just what he did. He and the man moved away from the crossing as it's lights started to go off and the arms go down. Asa continued to film as Li came into view with his train.

"This is going to hurt Li," Asa said quietly.

Li could see the car on the tracks, "brakes Driver!" he cried, "please put the brakes on!"

His Driver pulled on the brake handle and held back as hard as he could, but with the goods train behind him, Li wasn't going to stop in time.

"I hope that car will be empty," the fireman groaned, "brace yourself for impact."

The Driver and fireman held onto the handles to steady themselves and waited for the crash. All Li could do now was close his eyes - Li smashed into the nose of the car and pushed it down the tracks while his brakes groaned loudly. The little joyride soon ended when Li stopped, but the car rolled on for a few more feet before stopping.

Asa, Ms. Ama, the police officer and the man were in shock of what they saw, they never said a single word.

"OW!" Li cried a moment later, "That hurt!"

His crew were shaken, but they weren't hurt. They got out to see what had happened, they could hardly believe the damage done - the car had squashed flat like a sandwhich, it's windows were smashed out, it's doors layed on the road and some parts of the engine could be found on the tracks.

Li was worried that he might've hurt someone, and was very glad when he heard that no one was in the car. Although, he wasn't too pleased to find out that Asa had filmed the accident with her camera.

"I was only hoping to film you go by," she said to Li, "but not this."

"It's okay Asa, you didn't know this was going to happen."

"I wish I did," groaned the man, "maybe then I would've sent my car to the local garage and have the engine looked over and repaired. Anyways Li, I am sorry about this."

"That's okay," he said kindly.

"At least we can relax in knowing that nobody was hurt in this crash," said the officer, "otherwise this would've been a tragedy."

"Now that's worse than what we filmed today," Ms. Ama said quietly.

Li had to wait for the car to be towed away, or what was left of it, and the rubbish it spilled out had been cleared away. Then he was finally allowed to leave with his goods train.

When Li arrived, Rick complained loud and long about Li's late arrival.

And that night, when he returned to the sheds, his crew and the Man in the Suit looked over his front end for damage, "it's not serious," said his Driver, "just a simple repair that can be done overnight."

"I only wish I could say the same about that car," said the fireman.

"Well at least it wasn't as bad as Courtney's accident with Van," said the Man in the Suit, then he looked back up to his engine, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay sir," he answered quietly, "just a little shaken up by what happened."

"Don't worry about that," Courtney piped up, "that feeling will go away soon."

"I hope so, but do me a small favour."

"And what would that be?"

"When the new engine comes, don't tell them about the accident." Courtney promised and with that, as the men left for home that night, the sheds went silent.

**Author's Note:**

Li's accident at the level crossing is based on a real life event where a man got his car stuck on a railway crossing after taking a friend to the airport, with it's nose pointing down the tracks. An officer came and asked the man to move away from the crossing, then radioed for the train to be stopped, but it was too late. The train smashed the car to pieces while the engine got very little damage, luckily, nobody was seriously hurt.

_**Li & the Steel Bridge**_

One of Li's jobs was to work on the all new steel bridge on the 'Transfer Point' line. Everyday, he would take workmen there and back and would often take pieces of the new bridge The new bridge project has been going on ever since the original temporary wooden bridge fell to pieces during Percy's visit, and by now, it was nearly complete.

"Just one more week Li," said his Driver, "and this bridge will be complete."

"That's good, cause I think Courtney is a little tired of using the other line."

Li's fireman was looking down from the new bridge, he almost got sick as he looked down, "this reminds me of that bridge we saw on the second line we worked on."

"Except for one difference," said Li, "that bridge was 50 feet above the water, remember?"

"I remember," the fireman then looked at his watch, "we better get going to our next job."

Once he had climbed back into the cab, they set off to their next job.

That night in the sheds, Rin, Sia and Nerine came by to talk with the two engines.

"I just wonder when our new transfer point is going to be ready for business," said Courtney, "I almost fell behind with my timetable today because of the construction work."

"I don't we're going have to worry about keeping to time soon Courtney," said Li, "especially with that new engine coming soon."

"What new engine?" Sia asked.

So Courtney explained about the new engine that was coming.

"Well, that line will be a little easier to use once the new bridge is completed," Li spoke up after a while, "the only problem that could come up is if someone walks on that bridge."

Rin looked up to Li a little surprised, "by the sounds of that, you've had that happen to you before."

"Yeah, you can say that..." and so, Li began to tell his friends a story of the second line he used to work on.

The second line that Li and his brother Ken worked on was a very good line, it operated a few steam engines in regular operation, which meant that they were allowed to take passengers and goods (freights as they are known as in the states). Li liked working on the line, especially when he had to cross a steel bridge, it was very long and stood 50 feet above the water.

The line itself ran from one state to another and was a huge supplier to another railroad that ran in those parts.

Everyday was a good one for Li and his brother, as well as the other few steam locomotives, and there was no trouble whatsoever, except on one day that Li remembers all too well.

It was a beautiful spring morning, and Li was shunting some trucks for a big northern.

"Mighty beautiful day today wouldna think?" the big northern asked.

"You bet," Li smiled, "you know you are so lucky to be taking a train today."

"Would it have anything to do with that big steel bridge would it?" the big northern asked.

"Maybe," Li said meekily.

The big northern laughed for a couple of seconds, then he spoke to the tank engine again, "What is it with you and that bridge?"

"You know something...I really have no idea why I like that bridge, maybe it's because of it's length, height or maybe because it gives me a chance to stretch my wheels during a run."

"Sounds good enough litta buddy."

In no time at all, Li had the train all set for the big northern. He was moved out of the way into a siding, while the big northern backed him down and was coupled up.

"Toot! Toot!" he whistled, "Goodbye litta buddy!"

"See you later!" Li called back and watched as the goods train moved out of the yards.

Later that afternoon, the manager came up to speak with Li about an important job, "there's an important load that needs to be taken for the main line, since there are no other engines in steam at the moment, I would like you to take the freight cars."

"Oh yes sir!" Li piped up with an excited tone in his voice.

Li was moved over to the yards and shunted the trucks into a long line, then once the load was all ready to go, Li puffed off along the line.

"This is a job I like," Li puffed happily to himself. He passed by lots of wonderful locations, and soon came up to the steel bridge, "Here we go!" he called, "Don't look down!"

All the engines of the line love saying that whenever they crossed the bridge.

"It's an awfully long way's down," said Li's fireman, "I sure hate to fall from this height."

"Then be lucky that you're a fireman and not a bridge inspector," said the Driver, "those guys have nerves of steel, unlike you."

The fireman shot the Driver a dirty look, while Li chuckled as quietly as he could.

He arrived with minutes to spare and had the time to talk with one of the diesels about the line until it was time for the diesels to head off for the open main line.

"Keep up the good work little friend," said the leading diesel, "you and your buddies are doing a great job and are regular life savers for us."

"Thank you big fella," Li called out, "I'm always glad to be of service."

The diesels blew a friendly goodbye to Li and rumbled away. Li was then moved over to another siding where some empties were waiting to go back to their yard, then after getting coupled up, they puffed off.

As they made their way home, they came up the bridge and slowed to a stop.

"What in the..." Li was shocked to see a man walking along on the bridge without a care in the world.

"That doesn't look like a bridge inspector," said Li's Driver, "What is that person doing on the bridge?"

"Hey you!" shouted the fireman.

The man looked back and at that moment, he slipped and fell off the rails and over the side of the bridge. Li and his crew could watch in horror as the man fell towards the water - after a while, they heard a loud splash.

Li's crew jumped out of the cab and ran up to the bridge to see if they could see the man. By some sheer luck, he survived his fall from the bridge, and what was even more remarkable was that the man had missed the rocks. He was actually holding onto a rock to prevent him from being drifted away.

"HELP!" he cried.

"Don't worry sir!" the Driver called, "We'll get you out of there, just hang on tight!"

"That's all I can do!"

Li's fireman went back to the cab and grabbed a long chain that sat in the cab, "I don't know why we have this chain, but in this case, I'm glad we have this thing."

He ran over to the bridge, then he and the Driver slowly lowered the long chain down to the water, surprising enough, the chain was over 50 feet long.

"Why do you keep that thing in my cab?" Li asked.

"For emergencies just like this," the Driver answered.

The man soon had a hold of the chain, then working together, the Driver and fireman pulled hard on the chain until after a few minutes, they had the man back up to safe ground.

"Are you okay?" the driver asked.

"Yes," the man panted as he tried to catch his breath.

"You're not a bridge inspector are you?" Li's Driver asked, the man shook his head, "You know it's dangerous to walk across a bridge like that, as you have just found out today. Please don't do that again, cause next time you might not be so lucky."

"And thankfully, that man never did return to that bridge again - at least, not during my stay on the line."

Everyone in the shed was silent after hearing that story, Sia was the first to reply with a shiver, "that's something I wouldn't want to experience. that man was lucky to survive."

"You can say that again," Li said as he rolled his eyes, "I'm actually surprised that he missed all those rocks."

"Just one question though," Courtney piped up, "how long did you and Ken stay on that line for?"

"I believe it was only three years before we were sold off again, mostly because the company was running low on money. Ken and I offered to go, and so, they sold us off, but not before giving us a 'farewell' party."

"Did any of the other lines you went to have a big bridge like the one on your second line?"

"Nope I'm sorry to say, none of them did. The bridge on the Transfer point line, that's close enough to the actual bridge on that line...just close enough," he said quietly to himself.

**Author's Note:**

This story is based upon a real life event of a man who fell fifty feet off a bridge and into the waters below. He survived the fall and surprising enough, he never hit any of the rocks, he was able to walk away from the incident without a single scratch.

_**Dog's an Engine's Best Friend**_

The next morning, Li was taking a goods train down to the warehouse distract.

"Perfect weather once again," said Li's Driver, "and they call this the raining season too."

"Don't get used to it," said the fireman, "it's going to rain again this afternoon..." Just then, they all heard the sounds of a dog barking at them, "what's that dog barking about?"

"ANOTHER CAR IS ON THE TRACKS!" Li shouted loudly.

His Driver leapt to the brake handle and screwed the brakes on hard, thankfully this time they were able to stop with inches to spare from the car, "not again," he groaned, "what is it with cars stopping on our crossings?"

"Sorry about this," called the car's driver, "my car stalled on your line a few minutes ago, don't worry though, I've called to have it towed away as soon as possible."

"Lucky us," sighed Li, "and it's all thanks to that dog too, who's dog was that anyways?"

Very soon, the car was towed off the tracks and Li puffed off to the distract.

That night, he told Rin, Kaede, Primula and Courtney about the near miss.

"Well that's a first," said Courtney, "I've never heard of a dog warning a train about danger on it's tracks."

It was Kaede who spoke up next, "it can happen though Courtney, dogs have always helped people in the past when they get into trouble or are in serious danger."

"Like Saint Bonnards," said Drew, who was walking into the sheds next, "they're always helping people in trouble, which is no wonder why they are known by many as rescue dogs."

"I think that's the dog that barked at me," said Li, "although I'm not quite sure."

"Speaking of the dog, who's it's owner?" Courtney asked.

Li thought about it for a second, then he answered..."I don't remember seeing someone walking with that dog, the little fella was on his own."

"Must be a stray then," said Drew quietly.

The next day as Li went back and forth with some goods trains, he kept an eye out for the dog that had warned him yesterday.

"I think I know which type of dog we heard yesterday," said his Driver, "it's a German Sheppard, but I'm not sure, we'll have to wait till we see the dog again."

At the distract, Li talked with Ken and Masuko about the dog incident.

"I used to hear alot about dogs saving the day," Masuko was saying while he was working, "of course, most of the stories I've heard about came from that television show my former operator used to watch, it's about a stray dog going from one place to another and help people when they are in trouble."

"Like a hobo," said Ken, "they go from place to place."

"Excatly, except this was a dog - A German Sheppard to be honest here."

"And that's the kind of dog that warned me yesterday," said Li.

"You're not the only one who's seen that dog Li," said Ken, "I've heard some of the workmen say that they've seen a dog walking around outside of our shops, then I remember on one day when it came in here and barked at one of our workmen. He went to chase the dog out, and the next thing he knew, a pile of metal parts fell - right in the spot he had been standing."

"That dog's a regular hero," exclaimed Li's Driver.

"That's true, but the problem is that the dog is nowhere to be seen when we want to thank him."

"I've also heard a story about that dog in our city," said Ken's Driver, "I remember hearing about a young kid, no more than three years old, was about to walk off the side of a deck and into a swimming pool, but the dog had gotten the parent's attention and saved the kid from falling into the pool."

Everyone was silent after they heard this, except for Masuko who continued unloading Li's trucks. Then once they were empty, Li puffed off back to the yards with his empty trucks.

Just as they reached the business distract of the city, they heard loud barking again. Li's Driver brought the train to a hault, and both he and the fireman looked out to see the German Sheppard barking at them.

"Now what's wrong?" the fireman asked, "there aren't any cars or lorries on our tracks."

The dog continued to bark and would often look back for a second. Li looked in the same direction and gasped in horror, "there's a building on fire!"

Sure enough, smoke could be seen rising from a nearby building.

"Don't worry Li," said his Driver, "the fire department's already taking care of the fire..."

But he spoke too soon, cause in the next second, they could hear - "we're out of water!"

"So that's it," said Li's fireman, "the dog was not only telling us about the fire, it was trying to tell us about the water level."

"We better see if we can help then," said Li's Driver, who opened the regulator.

The dog ran alongside Li until they arrived at the site, "you can use the water from Li's water tanks," called Li's Driver, "we've got more than enough for this fire."

"Very well then," said the fire cheif, "boys, get the pump out and get out the extra hose!"

The firemen wasted no time and before long, they were pouring lots of water onto the fire. All was going well, until they heard some faint cries from inside the building.

"My baby's in there!" cried a woman, who tried to get through the crowd, but was stopped by the firemen.

Next thing anyone knew, the dog ran past the fire department and into the burning building. Everyone waited for a long time, mostly in complete silence - until they saw the dog come out with the baby wrapped in a blanket.

"My baby," cried the woman as she picked it up and gave it a hug, "thank you sweet dog, thank you so much."

The dog barked back in reply as a way of saying 'You're Welcome'.

Before long, the fire had been put out with little damage done to the building.

"I don't know how that could've happened," said the business owner, "one minute I was working behind my desk, the next I hear this dog barking at me. Just as I was going to shout at it, I smelled smoke from above me, and that's when I called for help and raised the alarm."

"And once again, this dog has saved the day," said Li.

"Well, we better get going," said Li's Driver, "we can't hold the line up any longer."

He opened the regulator, but found that Li wasn't going anywhere, "oh darn it," groaned Li's fireman, "we're out of water."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," said Li as he watched the dog run off again.

And sure enough in a few minutes, Ken returned with a water tanker in front of him. Li's crew switched him onto the siding beside Li, then they phoned down the line to stop Courtney if she was to come by next.

Li was the first to notice, "where did the dog go?"

Everyone looked and sure enough, the dog was long gone again.

"I guess he's got somewhere else to go," said Ken's Driver.

"It's too bad," said the fire cheif, "I was hoping to thank the dog myself for all he has done."

"I think we all would," said Ken quietly.

After a while, Li's tanks were full of water and he was allowed to go back to the yards while Ken puffed off back to the workshop. And once again that night, he spoke to Courtney and his friends, Sia, Nerine, Kaede, Rin and Drew about the dog again.

"This sure beats an ordinary day back in my old hometown," Drew was saying.

"It's not everyday you hear of a dog saving a child from a burning building and getting an engine with a water tanker to come fill another engine's tanks," said Sia in agreement.

"I just wonder where the dog has gone," said Kaede.

"I don't know," said Li, "but I hope we'll get to see him again. For he's not only a person's best friend, but he's an engine's best friend too."

**Author's Note:**

This story was deeply inspired by the many stories told of dogs helping people and by the television show 'The Littlest Hobo'.

_**Dash Through to Safety**_

One night in the sheds, Courtney could see that Li was looking a little miserable, "Is something wrong Li?" Courtney asked, but she didn't get an answer until she called out his name for the third time and asked the same question again.

"It's nothing really," he said, "I'm just longing for a little adventure again, I guess it comes from travelling for so long."

"I guess I can understand what you're feeling," Courtney said quietly, "change can be a good thing every now and then, but then again it can also be curse, as you and Ken found out before."

"Maybe," Li sighed, "still though, when we hear stories of engines who used to work on other railroads, it makes me want to travel and see the line for myself - of course I'm not saying that this line is bad at all, I like working here."

"That's good to hear, still I have to ask you, if you got the chance to travel again, would you go?"

"I don't know Courtney, I just don't know."

"Well, it would be a shame if you did, I mean, who would help the new engine and myself with the workloads, and who would we have to talk to at night? We would miss you like crazy."

"And I would miss everyone too," said Li as he looked out the window again.

Over the next few days, the worst of the rainy season came. It rained for days and days, nobody really liked the heavy rain falls, except for Sia, who loved watching the rain fall down.

Nevertheless, work continued on as normal.

At one building just outside of the warehouse distract, an inspector came running out with a frantic look on his face, "that thing is clearly unsafe now," he said to the building owner, "I have a feeling that before the end of the day, this building will come crashing down."

"Then what do you suggest sir?" the owner asked.

"Get everyone out of the way while I phone the Man in the Suit to inform him about this, we can't have this thing fall down while one of his engines is passing by."

And that's just what they did, as luck would have it, Courtney was at the warehouse distract and so she already got the message, but Li was leaving the dockyards with a goods train.

Ken and Courtney puffed as close as they could to the building, by now it was already starting to tilt forwards like it was going to collapse onto the city streets. Rin, Kaede, Sia, Nerine and Asa were in complete shock to see this.

"It's no good," said the building inspector, "the Man in the Suit can't stop Li from coming, he's already on his way..." he then looked up to the building, "and judging by that poor structure, it'll probably crash down as he's passing through."

"Isn't there anything we can do to stop it?" Courtney asked, "we can't let Li get crushed by that building."

The inspector looked to the building again, then to the engines, their crews and their friends, "the only way we could save him is if we hold it back with strong chains attached to the two engines."

"Lucky for you that we've got plenty of strong chains back in the workshops," said Ken, "I'll go get them."

"You better get Masuko too!" Courtney cried to the workshop engine as he backed away, "we're going to need all the help we can get."

"We can only hope that this will work," Sia said quietly.

By this time, Li was puffing along with his goods train, he could hardly see a thing as the rain poured down hard and stung him in the eyes alot. "It's so hard to see," Li groaned, "I can't wait till we get to Ken's workshop."

"Same here," said the Driver as he leaned out the window to see the line ahead, "this is a fierce storm."

"Hopefully though it won't be like what happened with Percy and that tree," said Li's fireman.

Li shuddered at the thought, "that would be scary," he said, "especially if loose branches come flying our way and hit me in the face."

"I don't think this rainstorm has the power to knock down a tree across our line, so there's no need to worry yourselves over nothing," said Li's Driver.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Li smiled.

And with that happy thought in his mind, Li puffed on ahead down the tracks, unaware of the danger that was still a long way's ahead...

By now, Courtney and Ken were chained up to the tilting building. Masuko was just getting chained up at this time, at around the time that the workmen placed barriers on the road to prevent any accidents from occuring. Courtney and Ken sat on the new unfinished commuter line that the Man in the Suit was hoping to open soon.

"And he was hoping to test this line out," said Courtney, "I guess this will have to do."

"Just be ready Courtney," advised Ken, "we need to be ready when Li comes by, I'm not about to let my own brother get crushed by a building."

"Don't worry Ken, I'm ready!"

"That building shouldn't be tilting like that," said Rin.

"I can agree with you there," said the building inspector, "if I ever see the contractors who build this building I'll..."

The man never got to finish as they heard a loud creak and a groan, it was clear the building wanted to come down now, whether everyone was ready or not. It moved forward so much that Courtney and Ken were nearly pulled back.

"Pull!" Courtney cried.

Her Driver opened her regulator and Ken's Driver did the same thing, Masuko's operator poured on the power and the little crane began to tow hard on the building.

All of the sudden, they heard Li's loud Pennsylvania railroad whistle in the distance, but by the sounds of it, he was getting closer and closer to where everyone was.

"Isn't there a way we could warn Li and his crew?" Kaede asked nervously.

"Not a chance," cried Courtney's Driver, "neither one of Li's crew have a mobile phone with them, so we can't warn them."

"Besides," Courtney groaned as she took the strain, "even if we...warn Li, he won't...be able to...stop in time!"

"We'll just...have to pull harder...," cried Ken, he was already started to tire, "don't give up you two!"

"We...won't!" cried Masuko.

The three machines pull as hard as they could, but the building was still tilting downwards towards the ground, and pull them back.

By now, Li could finally see through the rain shower and could see the line ahead as he entered the business distract. By that time, he could see something that made him cry out in horror.

"Look at that building!" he shouted to his crew.

The fireman looked out the window, "oh my gosh!" he cried, "that building looks like it's going to fall, and by the look of how it's leaning..."

"It's going to crash on our line," the Driver gasped as he looked out the window.

"We would get crushed if we slow down or try to stop," said Li, "so the only option for us to go on ahead and hope we can get to safety."

"Are you sure about this, Li?"

"I'm quite sure, it's the only way how we're going to save ourselves."

And with that said, Li's Driver opened the regulator even more and blew the whistle loud and long, while the fireman shovelled in more coal into the firebox, "here we go!" shouted Li as his wheels pounded the rails.

"He's getting closer," Kaede cried.

"I can see him!" shouted Asa, "he's coming in fast!"

"Please hold, please!" said Courtney and Masuko in unison.

"PULL! PULL! PULL!" cried Ken as he lead the machines to keep going. The building still creaked and groaned, nearly ready to fall down and crush anything in it's path. Their friends all shouted to Li to keep going as loudly as they could.

"HERE GOES!" Li shouted and with each wheel turn by wheel turn, Li raced on. He was soon in the path of the building, he dashed on though and then past his friends, blowing off a strong breeze as he did.

The two engines and Masuko couldn't hold it anymore, they came to a slow stop, then the chains broke and the building went crashing down to the ground with a thunderous bang! Following the crash, there was a moment of silence...

"Where's Li?" Ken asked. Again there was silence...

Until they all heard Li's whistle, blowing loud and long! Upon hearing this, everyone cheered with claps, whistles and honks of horns.

Later on, the Man in the Suit came to the workshops to see how the three engines were doing, he told Courtney and Ken how proud he was of both of them for their bravery, same with Masuko.

"And Li," said the Man in the Suit as he looked up to his american tank engine, "I am very proud of you, that was a huge risk you took, but thanks to that, you, your crew and your train made it through with no injuries. Not many engines would've done something like that."

"You should be proud of yourself," said Rin, and all the girls agreed with him.

"Thank you sir, and to all of you too. To be honest though, I was a little scared when I saw that building come down. I was almost ready to slow down, but then I remembered what Courtney and I were talking about before about living here in this city and being with such wonderful friends like you guys, and it was then I knew that I had to keep going - so in reality, I owe you all a great deal of thanks."

"So, you're not going to leave us, are you?" Courtney asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not ever," Li smiled, "cause there's no where else I would want to be than to be here with my friends...no wait, I meant - my family."

Still, I bet you're wondering about the contractors of that building, well - they were soon caught and were dealt with by the police, since they had endangered so many lives, maybe next time they'll do the job properly, that is if anyone will hire them again.

**Author's Note:**

This story was based loosely on a real life event of a building crashing to the ground due to bad construction work, thankfully no lives were lost. Li's dash through and the engines pulling back on the building is all fictionial.

**The End!**


	9. Hero Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 9**_

_**Hero Engines**_

_**Based on the Original (2009) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_I've been looking threw the last eight books of this series lately and I've noticed that Nerine, Rin, Ken and the Man in the Suit haven't had that much time in the spotlight. However, the most recent events have brought about the promise of a book just for them. I was quite surprised by what I had heard, from stupid boys insulting Courtney to a hitch hiker, there was more than enough exciting adventures or misadventures in some cases for me to write up a new book about these four heroes or heroines in Nerine's case. Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this book and I hope this will please Rin, Nerine, Ken and the Man in the Suit to finally have stories of their own._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Never Insult Nerine's Friends

-Hitch-Hiker

-Ken to the Rescue

-The Man of the Hour

_**Never Insult Nerine's Friends**_

"Is the new engine on his way yet?" Li was asking the Man in the Suit for the umpteenth time.

The Man in the Suit chuckled, "no Li, he's not on his way yet. With the way you and Courtney keep asking me that question, anyone would think that this engine is never going to come."

"We're sorry sir," said Courtney, "We're just excited to meet him."

"I understand," he smiled, "in that case, the repairs are nearly done and the new engine should be arriving just before the summer season. Good thing too, cause the spring season is nearly over."

"That is a relief," sighed Li.

"Sir," Courtney asked, "can you please tell us what this engine's name is?"

"Sorry Courtney, but I can't reveal his name just yet, you'll have to wait till he arrives."

He then walked off back to his office, leaving both Courtney and Li to think about the new engine, what color would he be and what his name was too.

Still though, with the spring season nearly over and the summer season coming up soon, the engines were kept busy running back and forth along the line. There were more passengers coming to see their line, and more goods came in on board the ships and at the warehouse distract, but the engines didn't mind this, they loved to work.

During their runs through the main shopping distract, they pass by a small city park. This is where the engines usually see Nerine. She could often be seen sitting on one of the swings, and on a rare occasion, she would sing a small song.

Courtney thought that Nerine had a beautiful voice.

"Whenever I hear her sing, I often feel a warm wonderful feeling in my boiler."

"We know the feeling old girl," called her Driver, "it's a beautiful song she sings, and it's peaceful too."

Other times they passed the park and Nerine wasn't singing, they would blow the whistle as a friendly 'hello' to her, and Nerine would always reply back by waving to the engines. They never blow the whistle when she's singing, they never want to distrub her.

On a beautiful spring morning in May, Courtney was puffing along with twenty trucks rattling behind her, they were full of crates bound for America. As she puffed along though, she felt something small, but hard, hit her boiler.

"OW!" she cried, "What was that?"

Her Driver looked out and saw who was throwing the objects at the them. They were three boys, who had sinister looks on their faces, they laughed loudly and ran off.

"The nerve of them," the Driver cried, "What gives them the right to throw objects at us."

"They're eggs," said the fireman as he looked over to the boiler, "That's what they threw at us. Don't worry Courtney, we'll clean those eggs off your boiler when we get to the yards."

"That's good," said Courtney, who was already feeling uncomfortable as the eggs cooked on her boiler, "at least it's not as bad as what Thomas told me," she thought to herself.

In a short while, Courtney's crew had removed the eggs off her boiler, she felt much better after that.

Just as she was about to head out, Li came puffing into the yards, he was covered in lots of eggs.

"Blimey Li," Courtney gasped, "What happened to you?"

"Need you ask?" Li asked angerily, "some stupid boys threw eggs all over me, one of them even hit my Driver in the face, at least, that's what I heard."

Li's Driver emerged from the cab with an egg all over his face, "I didn't want to have eggs for lunch," he groaned.

"Who would do such a thing?" Courtney asked.

"I think I know who," said a voice, it was Rin, he and Primula had come by to see how the engines were doing, "those boys are a part of Nerine's fan club, they're always coming after me everyday, mostly because of jealously, and I think that's why they're doing this to you too."

"Jealously is a terrible thing," Primula said quietly.

The following next morning, Courtney was brought over to the coach yards to collect her coaches for the morning's passenger runs. Since the line was starting to see more passengers than ever before, the Man in the Suit had ordered for more coaches to come from other railroads like the Union Pacific railroad in the united states and the Canadian Pacific railway. The canadian coaches were undergoing repairs at this time, so Courtney had to take the other coaches.

As she rolled smoothly into the station, she could see Nerine standing close by.

"Hello Nerine," Courtney called, "it's a beautiful day today, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes indeed," Nerine smiled happily.

"Aren't you going to be late for school Nerine?" Courtney's Driver asked.

"Not at all," Nerine answered, "we don't have school today, it's a day off for all of us. So I decided to come here and watch you guys work today, if that's okay."

"Of course it is," Courtney smiled.

Just then, they saw three boys walking up to the platform with four plastic bags in their hands.

"Those are the same boys that threw the eggs at me yesterday," said Courtney.

"And by the looks of those shopping bags," said Courtney's Driver, "it looks like they want to do it again."

"Look at this piece of scrap metal," sniggered one of the boys, "I don't know why the manager of this silly toy railway would keep this thing."

"He should get a diesel, at least they are clean and don't make a lot of noise like this silly steaming piece of scrap."

"I would thank you not to say that to me," said Courtney with a firm tone in her voice, "and I..."

"Oh shut up you," sniggered a second boy. He then pulled out some eggs out of the bag and started to throw them at Courtney. The other stupid boys started to do the same thing.

"Stop that!" shouted the Driver, "That's vandalism you know!" The boys heard, but they paid no attention...

Until they saw a bright flash of light standing close by to Courtney - it was Nerine. She wasn't happy at this time, some tears were coming down from her eyes, but she was mad.

"I will not allow you to hurt any of my friends!" she said angerily to the boys, "I'll teach you to never mistreat Courtney or her line!"

She focused her energies together, as if she was ready to attack the boys.

"Wait Nerine," cried one of the boys, "you don't need to do that, we'll be good, we promise."

"You lie," Nerine cried, "you always lie. You're always trying to hurt Rin, and now you try to attack my engine friends, I'll teach you a lesson you won't soon forget."

"This isn't good," said the fireman.

"Definetly not," agreed the Driver, "if she doesn't calm down soon, she could blow the roof off this station and send our Courtney flying more than a few feet from here."

"Nerine, stop!" Courtney cried, "This isn't you, please stop my friend, they're not worth it."

Nerine looked over to Courtney, "they have to pay, otherwise they could do this again."

"You're partly right my friend, but you don't need to hurt anyone. For as long as I've known you, I've known you to be a kind sweet innocent being - that's why I'm asking you to please stop before you do something that you'll regret later."

Nerine went silent for less than a few seconds, then at last, the bright beam of red light started to dive away and she calmed down.

"Maybe we should get out of here," said the third boy of the group.

They tried to get away from the station, but they were caught by Courtney's crew, who were just as mad as Nerine was, "you're not going anywhere you little vandals," said the Driver firmly, "I think you better come with us to speak with our manager - the Man in the Suit."

The boys gulped as the crew took them to the Man in the Suit's office.

"That's the way to make them pay," Courtney said to Nerine.

Nerine looked down in shame, "I'm sorry Courtney, I don't know what came over me. When I saw those boys throw those eggs at you, I was so upset by their actions that all I wanted to do was to make them stop."

"That's okay Nerine, I'm sure everyone has that feeling every now and then."

"Yes, but it's not good if someone from the realm of the demons has that feeling. We have enough power to..."

"I know," Courtney interupted kindly, "I've heard plenty of stories about those moments. Still though, I thought it was sweet of you to stand up for me and my railroad like that, you are a true friend."

"Do you mean it Courtney?"

"Of course I do," she smiled.

Just then, Courtney's crew returned, but without the boys, "the Man in the Suit is dealing with those boys, and by the sounds of things, the police will soon be dealing with them," said the Driver, "I don't think we'll need to worry about those boys throwing eggs on any of our engines anytime soon."

Both Courtney and Nerine were both quite relieved to hear that.

_**Hitch-Hiker**_

During the same afternoon, Rin was walking along to the shopping distract, with Primula walking along beside him. As they walked along, they heard the sounds of a loud whistle blowing. It was Courtney as she was passing by with her passenger train.

"Hello there my friends," she said cheerfully.

Her Driver pulled on the whistle cord to greet them, Rin and Primula responded back by waving to Courtney and to the passengers on board her train, and the passengers polietly waved back to them.

"At least they can see us when riding on that train," said Rin, "if it was the bullet train, we would look like blurs to them."

"Have you ridden on one of those bullet trains?" Primula asked in her quiet way.

"Only a few times," he answered.

They soon headed off on their way. Then, as they reached the shopping distract, they could see a man holding out his left thumb and standing closely to the railway line.

"What is that man doing?" Primula asked.

"I'm not sure," Rin answered.

All of the sudden, they heard a loud whistle blow in the distance and within seconds, Li came into view. He blew his whistle loud and long, he was cross, "stay clear of the line!" he cried, "otherwise you could get hurt!"

Luckily for them, the man was not close enough to the tracks, so they were able to pass by without incident, but Li was still cross.

"What ever happened to service with a smile?" the man asked as the goods train rattled on past.

"Sir," Rin called out, "the trains are not a taxi, they..."

But Rin never got to finish what he was saying, for once Li's brake van had passed the crossing, the man crossed over the tracks and headed out on his way.

"Now that's something you don't see everyday," he said out loud that Primula could hear him.

"It's dangerous," she said in agreement.

A little later that day, Rin and Primula were returning home after they had completed their shopping when they noticed the same man near the level crossing, holding out his right thumb this time.

"It's Deja Vu all over again," said Rin out loud.

At that moment, Courtney came into view with another passenger train, she blew her whistle loud and long, she wasn't too happy about this 'railroad hitch-hiker' standing so close to the crossing.

"Back off you!" cried Courtney.

"It's too dangerous for you to be standing so close to our tracks!" called out her Driver as he blew the whistle again.

Once Courtney and her train had passed again, the man shouted, "so much for being reliable," he said angerily, "that's suppose to be a passenger train and yet, they wouldn't let me get on board."

Rin was just about to shout out to the man, when he walked away, leaving both Primula and Rin stumped by what they saw.

"A railroad hitch hiker huh?" asked Drew that night as he was visiting Kaede, Rin and Primula, "I've never heard of a railroad hitch hiker before, still though - that man should know that it's dangerous to hitch hike."

"He didn't get hurt did he?" Kaede asked.

"No," said Rin, "but with the way he's been standing so close to the tracks, he could've gotten hurt."

"How close was he to the tracks?" Drew asked.

"He was on the other side of the crossing gates," said Primula.

Drew gasped when he heard this, "on the other side of the crossing gates?" he asked out loud, "are you serious?" Primula nodded her head.

There was silence for a while as Drew couldn't believe what he heard, "next time you see the man," he told Rin, "you better tell him to stand clear of the tracks and stay away from that end of the crossing gates, there's a good reason as to why they are there."

Rin promised to do that, if they ever saw the man again - and they would...

The following morning, Kaede and Rin were walking along to the grogery store, when they upon the same crossing and saw the man holding out his left thumb again, and standing so close to the tracks on the other side of the crossing gates.

"Get away from there!" cried Rin, "it's too dangerous!"

"No!" cried the man, "I know what I'm doing!"

Courtney's whistle could be heard in the distance, she was coming up to the crossing - luckily for her, the man was moved away from the tracks, by a police officer. He got underneath the crossing gates and pulled the man back - he didn't want to move at first, but the officer won the little fight and got him to safety, just as Courtney flashed by.

"Good work officer!" cried Courtney.

The officer waved to the train, then he spoke to the man, "you do know that what you were doing is completely dangerous," he said, "I better not catch you standing that close to the tracks again."

The man only sulked and walked away. Rin and Kaede sighed in relief, then they continued on to the grogery store.

On their way back home, that's when the strangest of all came into play. Kaede was only carrying three bags, while Rin carried five in his hands, "Rin, maybe you should let me carry some of those bags."

"No it's okay Kaede," he said in a kind way, "I can handle these bags."

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry some bags?"

"I'm sure," he said kindly again. He then looked down the pathway, he could see the lines of the Little Tokyo Railroad, and once again, the man was standing close to the tracks, "here we go again," groaned Rin.

What happened next really surprised both Kaede and Rin - the man walked _onto_ the tracks and held out his left thumb.

"What are you doing?" cried Rin.

"I'm waiting for a train," called the man, "now they'll stop for me."

"Are you crazy?" Rin cried again, "no train can stop quickly, get off those tracks before..."

It was then that they heard a loud whistle in the distance. It was Li, he was pulling another heavily loaded goods train to the dockyards.

Both Kaede and Rin shouted to the man again and again to get off the tracks, but he wouldn't move an inch - he just stayed in his position and continued to hold out his left thumb.

"Get off the tracks!" Rin cried, "if you don't, you'll get seriously hurt!"

Still nothing - Li's whistle could heard once again, only this time he sounded closer. Kaede and Rin looked down the tracks, by now they could see Li coming into view.

Li could also see them - and the man on the tracks!

"Oh Stars and Stripes," gasped Li, "it's that man again, and he's on our line, brakes Driver!"

Li's Driver jumped to the brakes and pulled them back as hard as could, but with the loaded trucks behind them, there was no way Li was going to be able to stop in time.

"Move out of the way!" Rin cried.

"Time for my free ride," the man snickered to himself as Li came closer and closer towards him.

It was then that Rin made a daring decision - he dropped the bags of grogeries, jumped over the wooden fence and charged towards the man and the railway.

"RIN!" cried Kaede.

She closed her eyes as she didn't want to see what was going to happen...

Rin charged at the man and pushed him right off the tracks, then he jumped off the tracks in record timing, as Li dashed by with brakes still screeching loudly. He was finally able to stop a few feet away, he was in a state of shock.

Once stopped, Li's crew jumped out of the cab to see if Rin and the man were okay. The man was struggling to get to the train, but Rin made sure that wasn't going to get his 'free ride'.

Before long, the police arrived and took the man away to the police station. Once Li had departed for the dockyards, Rin walked back over to where Kaede was.

"Are you okay Rin?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah I'm okay," he answered.

"You really scared me there when you jumped over the fence and..."

"I know," Rin interupted, "to be honest here, I was scared too, but I couldn't just stand by and let that man get hurt. Now, unless it's a real emergency, I won't go dashing towards the railway again when a train is coming."

Kaede sighed in relief, then she and Rin picked up the bags of grogeries and headed off back to the house to tell their friends all about what happened. I bet you're wondering about that man though, well - it turned out that the man was just being cheap and didn't want to waste money on a train ticket. He's okay, he just has a few cuts here and there, but now he's in a lot of trouble with the police, maybe next time he won't be so cheap - that is, if he's lucky to have a next time.

_**Ken to the Rescue**_

Ken is very happy being a workshop engine, he likes doing minor odd jobs in the shops, for it always means that he gets to do something different with each day that passes. He's never alone as he has Masuko and the workmen to keep him company, and of course he likes the many visits Courtney and Li make with their goods and passenger trains.

The following next morning after the near miss with the railroad hitch hiker, Ken was given the chance to take a goods train to the dockyards for Rick to unload, when he saw some foolish boys making a mad dash across his line just in front of him.

"STOP THAT!" Ken cried, but the boys took no notice, they were having too much fun.

"My turn next," said one of the boys.

He timed his movement and made a dash in front of Ken's train, just as the American engine dashed by - missing the boy by inches.

"That was stupid," said Ken's Driver angerily, "one of those boys could've gotten seriously hurt or..."

He didn't say the rest, both the fireman and Ken knew what could be worse than getting hurt.

When he got to the dockyards, he met up with his brother Li and while Rick was kept busy unloading his trucks, he told Li about the silly boys that dashed in front of him.

"And here I thought I had it bad with cars stopping on crossings," Li groaned.

"I just don't know why someone would want to do something like that," said Ken's Driver, "it's dangerous and down right stupid too."

"It's probably for the thrill of excitment," said Li's Driver, "people will sometimes go to great lengths to get that excitment, even if it meant flying across the tracks in front of an oncoming train."

"At least there's a bright side to all of this," said Li, "at least they didn't try this in front of one of those high speed trains. Now that's worse than jumping in front of a moving goods train."

"Maybe, but it's still a dumb thing to do."

"Just wait till I catch up with those boys," said Ken's Driver, "I'll take them a lesson they won't forget."

It wasn't just Ken and his crew who saw the troublesome boys, they had been spotted by Courtney and her crew as they shunted trucks for a goods train. The boys often did dangerous stunts like jumping in front of the trucks while they were being moved into place.

"You're not suppose to be in the yards!" cried Courtney's Driver.

He applied the brakes, then he and the fireman jumped out of the cab and ran after the boys, but the foolish lads got away before the crew could get a hold of them.

"First we get boys who throw eggs at Courtney and Li, and now this," groaned the Driver, "this is crazy."

"We better inform the Man in the Suit about this little close call," said the fireman, "he's not going to be pleased when he hears about this."

And indeed he didn't. The Man in the Suit was very cross when he heard, "if I ever catch those boys, they'll have me to answer to," he said angerily as he banged his fist down on the desk.

Courtney's crew gulped quietly, they could only imagine what could happen if the Man in the Suit finally caught up with the boys.

Ever since the day Sakura came sneaking into the yards, the Man in the Suit had a series of video cameras installed at the stations and at nearby sheds. By doing this, if troublemakers ever came crawling into the yards, they would get caught on tape and the Man in the Suit could deal with those troublemakers sooner.

He checked over the tapes, but the boys were indeed good at hiding - until he spotted one of them.

"Got you now," said the Man in the Suit.

"Do you know them sir?" Courtney's Driver asked.

"I do indeed, those boys were sent to work here after being caught stealing from a store. As I seem to recall, they often did dangerous stunts out in the yards, they served their time after a couple of months and I never saw those rascals again - until now."

"Are you sure that these are the same boys from before?"

"Yes indeed, it's them alright..."

Out on the main line, Ken was taking another goods train back to the warehouse distract, when he spotted the same foolish boys from before. Once again, they were up to no good and jumping over the tracks, even as Ken was coming up to where they were.

Ken's Driver blew the whistle loud and long, but the boys continued on - that was until something scary happened...

One boy tried jumping over the tracks, but he banged his foot on the steel rail - he fell face first onto the tracks.

"STOP!" Ken cried, "Someone's on the tracks!"

Ken's Driver applied the brakes while the other boys tried to help their fallen friend to safety. At last, the boys were able to help their fallen friend off the tracks - and just in the nick of time too. Ken came screeching past with his whistle blowing and sparks flying from his braking wheels.

Ken's fireman was so furious with the foolish boys that he climbed down from the cab and ran over to them even when Ken was still moving.

"Oh boy is he mad," said the Driver, "I better stop you and see if anyone is seriously hurt."

So the Driver brought Ken to a complete stop, then he ran back to check.

"You stupid little brats!" shouted Ken's fireman, "we warned you not to jump in front of the train and yet you do!"

"We're sorry," said one of the boys, "we just wanted to have some fun."

"Jumping in front of a moving train isn't fun!"

By now, Ken's Driver came running up, he could see the injuried boy groaning in terrible pain, "lucky for you I used to be a doctor before I became Ken's Driver," he said.

He checked the injuried leg - it was bad, he twisted it when he fell and now it was going purple.

"That's not a good sign," he said, "we need to get you to a hospital. Tim," he called to the fireman, "you better phone for an ambulance to meet up with us at the warehouse distract, I'll help this lad to Ken's cab. The rest of you better come with us, I'm sure the doctors and police will want to talk to you about this."

And so, the boys walked slowly to Ken's cab, while the Driver helped the injuried boy and the fireman phoned ahead.

"Alright Ken my boy," called the Driver once everyone was inside the cab, "we'll have to move quickly, do your best!"

"I'll give it my all!" Ken called back.

Ken's Driver opened the regulator, and slowly but surely, Ken charged down the tracks at great speeds. His wheels turned so fast that the siderods looked like blurs. They dashed past level crossings and past the shopping distract, shocking both Sia and Nerine.

"I wonder why Ken's hurrying," said Sia out loud.

Then they saw the ambulance race by them, "it must be an emergency," said Nerine.

"Mustn't slow down, mustn't slow down," Ken panted as he continued to pound the rails with each wheel turn by wheel turn.

At long last, they reached the warehouse distract at around the same time that the ambulance came dashing into view. The paramedics helped the Driver get the injuried boy out of the cab, while the two other boys were told to wait inside the ambulance. Once they were ready to go, they raced off towards the hospital, but not before thanking Ken and his crew for what they did.

Later that evening, Ken was shunting more trucks inside the shop when he saw his manager coming over with the Man in the Suit.

"Well Ken," said the workshop manager, "I heard all about your little rescue today, and I have to say that you did a good job. You'll be happy to know that the injuried boy is now recovering in the hospital, he didn't break any bones."

"That's good," Ken smiled, then his face fell, "but does this mean that once he's out that he and his little pals will try to..."

"Not anymore," interupted the Man in the Suit, he knew what Ken was going to say, "the police are dealing with those rascals now, and they are making sure that something like today's accident won't be happening again."

Ken sighed happily with relief.

And when Courtney and Li heard about this, they sighed with relief too.

"Good thing those boys were caught before it got out of hand," said Li, "maybe now those silly boys will learn a lesson from this, and it's thanks to my brother Ken."

"Next time I see Ken," said Courtney, "I'll be sure to thank him personally."

**Author's Note:**

This boys jumping in front of a moving train was based on a video showing a man making a stupid jump in front of an upcoming VIA Rail passenger train. The boy twisted his angle on the steel rail is purely fictionial.

_**The Man of the Hour**_

The Man in the Suit sat at his desk on a Saturday morning, he looked out the window to the railyards and sighed deeply to himself, "over the last few days we've had more than a few mishaps with boys throwing eggs at my engines, then there was that railroad hitch hiker and now the boys that jumped in front of the tracks," he sighed deeply again and went back to his paper work.

"Well at least this job is better than what I used to do," he said quietly to himself.

Long before he became controller of the Little Tokyo Railroad, the Man in the Suit had worked at a clothing store, he didn't like the job that much, which is why he was more than glad to leave that job and become the controller of the only standard gauge short line in Tokyo.

Once he was done his paperwork, he headed out to the sheds to speak with Courtney and Li, who once again asked him about the new engine.

"He'll be here soon enough," chuckled the Man in the Suit, "just wait a bit okay?"

"Okay sir," the two engines replied in unison.

He then watched as both engines puffed away to their jobs, then he walked back to his office.

The Man in the Suit didn't stay in his office all day long, he often greeted the passengers as they boarded Li's coaches and waved to Courtney and her crew as they left the yards with a goods train.

At around six that evening, he was still working on paper work when he got a phone call.

"Hi honey," it was his wife, Lucia, on the other end, "can you go by the grogery store before you come home tonight?"

"Sure dear, what would you like me to get?"

Lucia then told her husband what she wanted him to get, it wasn't a very big list, just a few items, "okay then, I'll get them as soon as I leave, see you soon honey."

After he hung up the phone, he walked out of his office to check up on the trains and the workers.

"Everything's just fine tonight," he sighed happily to himself.

He looked to his right and saw Courtney puffing out of the yards with another goods train, "all's well sir, there's no trouble here!"

"Keep up the good work my engine," called the Man in the Suit as he waved to Courtney and her crew.

In about twenty five minutes, the Man in the Suit was in a small grogery store looking for all that his wife had asked him to get. As he came around a corner, he spotted Nerine shopping too.

"Oh hello sir," she said, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm just picking up a few things for my family before I go home," he answered, "and what about you Ms. Nerine?"

"I'm doing some shopping too," she answered, "so, how are the engines doing?"

"Pretty good today, no troublemakers have dared tried to play any tricks in the yards - or out on the main line either."

"That's good," Nerine smiled.

"And, that new engine I've told everyone about is due to come sometime next week."

"That is good news, I bet Courtney and Li are excited by this news."

"Oh they sure are, but of course, they've been excited by this engine's arrival since I told them when Thomas was here."

As they were walking along through the store and talking, they noticed a shady looking character walk into the store. This person was wearing a heavy duty sweater, which was strange for this time of year, with the hood over his head and he had his hands in his pockets.

"I don't like this," said the Man in the Suit, "I've seen shady characters like him before, and most of them are up to no good."

"Do you think that's true with this person?" Nerine asked.

"I don't know," said the Man in the Suit, "I don't know."

The man walked up to the counter, waiting patiently in the long line up. Then at last, it was his turn - that's when the trouble began. He pointed his right pocket at the store owner, "give me all the cash you got," he demanded, "unless you want to get hurt."

"Y...y...yes sir," said the store owner.

The store owner pulled out a bag and started filling up the shopping bag with all the money that was in his cashier, "hurry it up!" said the shaddy man.

And that's what the store owner did, while the costumers in the store watched in fear, they didn't want to get hurt by this man.

At last, the store owner had filled up the bag, "here you go sir," he said still shaking in fear, "that's all the money I have."

"Thank you," he chuckled, then he took his hand out of his right pocket, "did you really think I was armed?" he asked as a joke, "Oh well, I got what I came for - have a nice day."

He laughed loudly as he walked towards the door.

"Stop him!" shouted the store owner, "he's not armed!"

The shaddy man was just about to walk out the doors with the money, when he was tackled to the ground by one of the costumers - it was the Man in the Suit, "if there one thing I don't stand for, it's stupid behaviour like that," he said angerily.

"Let me go!" shouted the shaddy man.

"I'm not letting you go until the police show up..." The store owner picked up the phone and called the police station.

While they waited, the Man in the Suit made sure that the shaddy man didn't escape from the store.

"Look, if you let me go, I'll let you have half of the money," said the shaddy man.

But the Man in the Suit just ignored him and waited patiently with everyone else.

A few minutes later, the police officers arrived. They arrested the shaddy man and asked the store owner of what happened. He told them about the robbery and the Man in the Suit tackling the shaddy man.

"I just did what anyone else would've done," said the Man in the Suit.

"Maybe so," said one of the costumers, "but you were the one who charged into action and stopped the shaddy man from escaping."

"You're a regular hero," said one of the officers, "just like your Little Tokyo Engines, well done indeed sir."

And with that, the police took the shaddy man off to jail, while all the money that had been taken was returned back to the store owner. And for the rest of the night, business returned to normal in the small shopping store.

By the next morning, everyone had heard about the Man in the Suit stopping the shaddy man, and this including his engines, who congraduated him.

"That was very brave of you sir," said Li, "but I have to know, was it scary to stop that man from getting away with that money?"

"Just a little bit," the Man in the Suit answered, "but I knew I had to stop him before he got away."

Courtney sighed, "it's amazing isn't it? Over the last few days, we've seen plenty of heroic acts being performed here, from Nerine scaring those foolish boys, then Rin saving that cheap man, Ken helping that injuried boy and now our own controller stops a criminal. We sure do get ourselves into some crazy adventures don't we?"

"We sure do," said Li, "and so do our friends, why - you could say that Nerine, Rin, Ken and the Man in the Suit are all heroes."

"Do you really mean it?" Nerine asked as she came up to the sheds.

"You better beleive it," Li smiled, "I mean every word of it."

"In that case," said Courtney as Ken pulled up with a goods train and Rin came walking over with Primula walking beside him, "three cheers for the four heroes - and heroine too!"

And that's what they did, Courtney and Li blew off their whistles, while the workers and the crews cheered and Primula said quietly, "hooray!"

"Heroes," said Rin quietly.

"Heroine," said Nerine quietly.

"Heroes," said the Man in the Suit and Ken in unison.

Yes, those four were indeed heroes and heroines in their own way, and all together, after the cheering was done, they said, "thank you everyone," in unison.

Still, I bet you're wondering about the shaddy man right? Well - he's in jail now, serving an entire year there, I bet he wishes he kept that mouth of his shut, and as for the foolish boys, they were asked to work on the railroad, as orders by the police. I bet now they wish they hadn't been so foolish.

**Author's Note:**

The incident in the grogery store was inspired by a real life event where a shaddy man robbed a store, but like in the story, he didn't have a gun. When the store owner found out, he shouted out for someone to stop him, and a costumer did, they stopped the man from escaping and kept him inside the store until the police came and arrested him.

**The End!**


	10. Transfer Point Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 10**_

_**Transfer Point Engines**_

_**Based on the Original 'Thomas, Percy and the City of Tokyo' (2009 Volume) by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_The new engine has finally arrived in the city, but he didn't come alone as Thomas was brought back to help with the last bit of work on the Transfer Point. The engines and their friends were certainly happy for the new engine's arrival, whose name is Luke, but they were also happy to finally have the Transfer Point line in full operation. Although, there were times when the project was nearly 'derailed' by some troublemakers, but they were stopped and the work went on as normal. I also spoke to Luke and heard a story from his original home on the Other Railway, which I am proud to add into this book._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Luke's Arrival

-The Story of Max

-Sideswiped

-Repeat Performance

-The Official Opening

_**Luke's Arrival**_

Everyone had to wait another addition week for the new engine's arrival, but it felt ages before his boat finally arrived. At last though, the ship arrived, and both engines, along with their friends and the Man in the Suit were there to greet him. When they arrived, they were in for a shock, for the engine that stood before them wasn't a diesel, it was...

"Thomas?" Courtney and Li exclaimed.

"Hello my friends," Thomas smiled.

"Hello Thomas," Kaede said in a kind way.

"Thomas," Li piped up, "were you the only engine on that ship?"

"Nope," he answered as he looked back to the ship.

At this time, Rick the Crane was lifting the new engine out of the ship. Then he lowered the new diesel shunter to the rails with a small thud. This engine was a class 08 diesel shunter with dark green paint, red siderods and had a yellow and black front like Mavis the Quarry Diesel Engine on Sodor.

"Don't mind him," Thomas said to the new engine, "he's always a little rough when it comes to unloading us engines."

The Man in the Suit walked forward to the new engine and inspected him all over, "a fine job they did, you look like a brand new engine."

"Sir," Courtney piped up, "I know you must be getting tired of hearing this, but we would like to know..."

The Man in the Suit held up his hand for silence, he knew what Courtney was going to ask, "my dear friends and engines, this is Luke the Diesel Shunter. As I have mentioned before, I bought him from the Other Railway in England, and as you can tell, they have done a wonderful job in restoring him."

"Yes indeed," Li smiled as he eyed the new engine with interest, "welcome Luke, I'm..."

"You're Li the American Tank Engine, and that's Courtney the Japanese Engine right beside you, am I right?" Luke asked curiously.

"Yes, that's who we are," Courtney was a little surprised when she heard this, "but how do you know us?"

Luke chuckled and looked over to Thomas, "Thomas told me all about you during the boat trip."

"Which brings up an interesting question," Asa piped up next, "why is Thomas here?"

"I'm here to help with the final bit of work that needs to be done on the 'Transfer Point' line, and I'm also to stay for a couple of months as there are many special events due to come up, isn't that right sir?"

"Yes indeed Thomas," smiled the Man in the Suit.

"What special events?" Sia asked.

"Don't ask," Courtney groaned, "the Man in the Suit must be keeping them a secret until the date of the events draw close."

"That's right Courtney," the Man in the Suit smiled as he looked over to his japanese engine.

"Anyways, if any of you are wondering about the work on my branch line, it's being done by my friend Edward the Blue Engine. He'll be doing my work until I go back."

After the little 'meet and greet', the engines set about the yards to do their work. Thomas showed Luke all he needed to know, and the diesel shunter worked just as hard as any other engine. Courtney and Li were indeed impressed with Luke's performace, and so was the Man in the Suit.

"I knew I made the right choice in buying Luke," he smiled.

When it came time for Luke to take a goods train, he and Thomas did a doubeheaded run to the warehouse distract, with Luke running in front of the train. It was perfect choice for the doubleheader considering that both Thomas and Luke had chained couplings and not knuckles.

"You were right Thomas," Luke called back, "Tokyo is a beautiful city. I'm going to love living here."

"Well I'm glad you like it Luke," he smiled, "but you might want to wait till we reach the warehouse distract, I think you'll be impressed there."

Thomas was quite right, Luke was amazed by the many sights that awaited him, and by all the people and beings from both realms waving to them as they passed. Luke had already been told about the beings from the realm of the gods and the realm of the demons, so he knew how to tell them apart.

Soon enough, they reached the warehouse distract with their special train.

"Well, well," Ken chuckled happily, "if it isn't Thomas and the new engine I pressume."

"That's correct my friend," Luke smiled, "I'm Luke the Diesel Shunter and you must be Ken. Thomas told me about you during the boat trip."

"Did he tell you about me?" Masuko asked as he came forward to see the new engine.

"He told me about you Masuko, he told me about all of you and your friends too. I must admit that this is a wonderful line, and you have such wonderful friends too."

"Ah," Ken smiled, "I see that you met Rin and the girls then."

"Yes I did, they are a friendly bunch - although that Asa is a little rough with that boy Rin."

"She slapped Rin on the back again before we went off to work," Thomas called out with a chuckle, "Same old Asa."

The three engines and Masuko talked and laughed while the crates were unloaded and work was carried out inside the workshop. Then once the trucks were emptied out, Thomas and Luke took the empty trucks back to the yards.

That night in the sheds, Kaede, Asa, Rin, Sia, Nerine, Drew and Primula came by to see the engines at around the same time that Thomas and Luke came into the sheds. Both engines listened in to some of the stories their friends told, from Li's near miss with a falling building, Rin and the railroad hitch hiker and even the Man in the Suit stopping a criminal.

"Cinders and Ashes," Thomas said after a while, "I sure have missed alot since I went back to Sodor less than a month ago."

"Just like we missed out on alot when Kaede, Rin and the girls went to Sodor," said Li quietly.

"Luke," Sia piped up next, "what was your home like?"

"My home was alot like Sodor, excpet that there lots of diesels running all the trains. I remember when we 08 class shunters first came into the yards, we worked alongside with the steam engines, that was until the end of the steam era when many of my loyal friends were sent for scrap - well, except for a few like Murdoch the Orange Giant."

"Where is Murdoch now?" Nerine asked.

"He lives on Sodor," Thomas answered this time, "although from what we do know, he was bought from a hertiage line that couldn't afford him, so our Sir Topham Hatt bought him and now he's mostly seen on goods trains."

Luke sighed happily, "it's good to know that he's still in good service," then he continued to talk about his old home, "I worked on the Other Railway for many years, even after my class of engines was withdrawn from service - it's almost hard to imagine that I outlasted my brothers and sisters."

"How did the Man in the Suit find you?" Kaede asked.

"He actually found me at work in the shunting yards, he watched me as I worked, although - I wasn't in fine working order as I am now. I was in rough shape at the time, but still, he was impressed with me. He spoke to my manager, then they came out to tell me that I had been sold to the Little Tokyo Railroad, and not a moment too soon as I was suppose to be scrapped the following next week."

"That's terrible," said Primula in her usual quiet way.

"After I was bought, the Other Railway manager had me sent me to the workshops to be rebuilt and to have my engine overhauled. The work was soon completed, then all that was left was a few tests, which I passed perfectly. After the tests, I took a small goods train to Sodor, where I stayed for a week, working and talking with my good old friend Murdoch."

Thomas then told the next part, "after a week, both Luke and I met at the dockyards and we were lifted on board the ship."

"As I remember it, you thought I was another diesel shunter that goes by the name of Diesel."

"That engine was trouble," said Drew, all eyes looked over to him, "from what I have read in the railway series books of course, I haven't met the engine myself."

"Anyways," Thomas continued, "I did mistaken Luke's idenity at first, but that didn't last for long after a few hours. And throughout the next few days, I told Luke everything about the Little Tokyo Railroad, the city and all of our friends too."

"Thomas said lots of nice things about all of you," said Luke, "and about this line and city too."

The girls all looked at Thomas with happy looks on their faces, Thomas blushed a small shade of red.

"So Luke," said Courtney, "what do you think of our railroad so far?"

"It's very nice, Thomas was right, this is a wonderful line."

"Have you gotten the chance to meet Nora, Kareha and Mayumi yet?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure I will soon," Luke smiled happily, "Thomas told me about them too, I'm looking forward to meeting them, and yes he told me to watch out for that guy named Itsuki and the three fan-clubs."

"Is there anything you two didn't talk about?" Li asked.

"Only a few things," Thomas chuckled, then he let out a small yawn.

After a few minutes, Rin, Drew and the girls were ready to back to their houses, they said good night to the engines and walked out of the sheds. One by one, the engines closed their eyes and went to sleep, Luke was the last one to sleep. He closed his eyes and went to sleep, dreaming of the days when steam and diesel engines worked happily side by side together.

_**The Story of Max**_

As the days went by, Luke settled in very nicely and thanks to him, the yards were spotless and all the trains were running to perfect timing.

"I've never seen the yards so neat and tidy in ages," said Courtney a few nights after Luke and Thomas arrived, "you are a wonderful worker Luke, it would take Li and I ages to do what you do."

"Oh well," said Luke blushing a little, "it's no big deal, I've done it for a long time back on the Other Railway."

"Were you the only shunter in the yards?" a young voice asked. Everyone looked to see who it was - it was Primula, she and Kaede had come by to see how the engines were doing.

"Not at all," Luke smiled to the little girl, "I worked alongside with my brothers and sisters, we were a bit of mixed batch, some of us were kind to the steam engines as well as being the only few engines who actually did their jobs, where as the others were very rude and often lazy."

"Which reminds me, I wonder how Daisy is doing," Thomas muttered quietly as a joke.

"What were their names?" Kaede asked kindly.

"The three engines that were loyal hard workers were known as Lucas, Melody and Jacob, while the others that weren't so kind and useful were Stephine, Ronald and Marcas. They were bad to the bone sort to speak, but they weren't as bad as my brother Max."

"How bad was he?" Li asked.

"Well let's just say that he would never pay attention to his work, he was rude to everyone, steam, diesel and the workers of the line and what was worse was that he thought he was the king of the rails. Nobody really knows why he acted the way he did - come to think of it, to this day, nobody knows why he acted like that."

"Wait a second," Kaede said as kindly as she could as she interupted Luke, "what do mean by 'the way he acted'?"

Luke sighed as he looked out of the sheds and over to the goods yards, "well, it was his own stupid attitude that finally brought him to his undoing."

"Scrap," said Thomas out loud, then he looked over to the diesel shunter, "please tell us then Luke."

"Very well," said the diesel and began his story about Max.

As Luke had said, Max was a regular terror and a complete moron, he would shunt recklessly around the yards, bumping the trucks as if he was on a rampage and more often than enough he damaged them. Then when he across some steam engines, he blasted his horn at them and yelled out, "get out of my yards steaming scrap iron!"

This got the steam engines cross.

Then when he spoke to the diesels, even his own class of engines, he would say, "Speed up you losers, I can't wait around all day for you idoits to rest your wheels."

And as you can guess, this got the diesels cross.

Then came the workers, like his own Driver. Max would order him about and wouldn't give him a chance to have a break. It was because of his attitude that his own driver often phoned in sick as he didn't want to work with Max.

Every night in the sheds, he shout angerily, "Where is that moron driver of mine, I want to get back to work! What in the heck is he doing?"

"He's sleeping right now," Stephine muttered angerily, "now will you please shut up and go to sleep?"

"Sleep is for losers like you lot!"

This got everyone's attention right away, "you dare call us losers?" snapped Marcas angerily, "if anything, you are the loser here Max."

"That's quite enough of that," said Jacob, who was one of the wisest diesel shunters on the Other Railway, "insults like those won't solve any problem. Now Max, your driver is resting at home right now, you two do work hard..."

"What do mean 'two'? I'm the real worker in the yards."

"But without a driver, you can't go anywhere," said Melody, another one of the kind diesel engines.

"Shut it you, if I wanted your opinion, then I would've asked for it!"

"There was no need for you to shout at her like that," said Lucas, "she was only stating an important fact to you."

"Do you think I really care? No! I do not care for her opinion."

Years went past and still Max continued on in the same old way. Everyone tried talking some sense into him, but he took no notice. In the end, the Other Railway's Controller decided to keep Max in the sheds until such a time when he calmed down.

"He's a hard worker at times," he was saying to Max's driver, "but he does have a flaming temper and a reckless behaviour."

"It's probably the way he was built sir," said Max's Driver.

"Maybe," he sighed as he looked out of his office to the yards.

At times, the workloads in the yards got to be a little too much for the other diesel shunters, and so the Other Railway Controller had to send Max out to shunt.

"Well it's about time he did something right," he scowled loudly.

However, Max's reckless behaviour was soon to be the end of his working carrer...

It was a hot summer's day and Max was once again shunting some trucks into a siding for a class 40 diesel to take to Sodor. As he shunted his trucks into the siding, with much banging and crashing, a new yard foreman came over to speak to Max and his Driver. He had not been told of the silly diesel's behaviour.

"I need you to collect a load of fuel tankers and bring them back here for this train," he told Max, "but be careful, there is a line of trucks full of dangerous cargo."

Max heard the warning, but as usual, he paid no attention.

His Driver took him over to the siding where the fuel tankers were waiting. He wanted to bash their buffers, but his driver held him back as best as he could.

"I'm not going to let you ruin my fun!" snarled Max.

"I don't call causing a major disaster fun," his Driver snapped firmly at him, "now will you please calm down and behave yourself?"

But Max didn't behave himself - instead, he continued to charge towards the trucks and nothing his driver could do would stop him. So in a desperate bid to save himself, the driver jumped out of the cab, he knew there was no way he could stop Max now.

Max went faster and faster, and the trucks came nearer and nearer to him.

"Okay now you can put the brakes on," he shouted to his Driver, but he got no response. "Stop now!" he shouted again - but again, there was no answer. "Oh no," Max gulped.

He closed his eyes as bashed and crashed into the fuel tankers. Fuel spilled out everywhere, but there was worse to come - a few sparks landed on the fuel and it burst into flames. Then there was more trouble, some pieces of broke trucks broke the trucks with the dangerous cargo, which was gunpowder for a fireworks factory, the powder fell onto the fuel through the holes in the trucks.

"Uh oh," Max gulped.

He had every right to worry. Fuel and Fire just don't mix, but when mixed with gunpowder, it's a recipe for disaster - there was a huge explosion and before anyone knew it, Max was engulfed in a huge fireball.

The fire bargade soon arrived and quickly put the fire out. The trucks were all broken to pieces or burned to a crisp and as for Max, his side panals had melted in the fire, his engine was destoryed by the explosion and his cab looked like a demolished building.

"What a mess," gasped the Other Railway's controller.

"Not a problem sir," said Max, sounding cheerful instead of hurt and upset, "I'm okay."

"I'm talking about the railyards you silly engine!" snapped the controller, "thanks to you, the special delivery is going to be late to Sodor, the Fat Controller is never going to let me hear the end of it, you have caused a disaster."

"Fine, fine, I'm sorry. Now please get me back on the rails!"

"No Max, I'm not going to do that, I'm going to have you scrapped instead. You're far too gone to be repaired, and even if we could put you back together, what's to stop you from causing another accident like this. Hence why I'm taking you out of service, maybe now I won't hear anymore complaining about you anymore." And with that, the Other Railway's controller walked away back to his office.

"And so the next morning, Melody took Max to the smelter's yard. He begged them not to dismental him, actually he ordered them not to, but all they said was 'We follow orders from our controller, not you!' and bit by bit, they took Max apart until nothing was left of him."

Everyone was silent when they heard this, until Primula broke the silence.

"That diesel had too much pride in that head of his," she said quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I couldn't agree with you more young Primula," said Luke, "and now all that is left of Max is the story of his own undoing. Still, after he left, the other three troublemakers and other unrulely diesels weren't so boastful or reckless after that. I think that his own way, Max taught them an important lesson that day without knowing it."

"And what would that be?" Courtney asked.

"Pay attention to your work and to everyone you're working with, it might be the only thing saving you from your own undoing."

_**Sideswiped**_

Shortly after Luke arrived on the Little Tokyo Railway, he was sent to work on the 'Transfer Point' line. He was assigned with the job of bringing the ballast trucks, while Courtney brought down the flatbeds with rails and railroad ties. While those two engines did their jobs on the line, Thomas and Li did the rest of the jobs.

The work was going like clockwork, actually it was better.

"With any luck," said one of the workmen, "we might be able to finish the line before the deadline."

"That will be a good thing," said another worker.

The line itself started off from the dockyards, passed the 'Water's Edge' section of line, which had been restored and made even stronger after Courtney's accident years ago, then the line goes on past the railroad until it reaches the new 'Transfer Point' station.

At this station, the engines of the Little Tokyo Railroad can either exchange the cargo from their trucks to the bullet trains, or put them on a couple of sidings for one of the diesel shunters from the Other Japanese Railways to collect.

The station itself was complete, but the tracks haven't reached it just yet. Hence why Courtney and Luke were kept busy bringing the trucks down the Transfer Point Line.

Courtney liked this line, except for one part - a curved siding that was a little sharp and the tracks were a little too close to each other.

"There's bound to be an accident here someday," Courtney thought to herself, "I sure would like to know which baka was put in charge of this siding, it better not be that track boss again."

I'm sorry to say that it was him again, he had been put in charge of the project for quite a while. He thought that the siding was perfect and good enough for use by the two engines.

"I should've known it was him again," she groaned to her Driver.

"And by the looks of the siding," her Driver added, "he still doesn't know how to do his job properly."

"That baka," Courtney said out loud that night in the sheds, "I thought he would've learned how to do the job properly by now."

Thomas looked at Courtney confused, "What does the word 'Baka' mean?"

"It's the japanese way of saying 'Idoit'," Li answered, "I've actually heard that word more than a few times in the past."

"Chikusho that guy!" Courtney snapped crossly, "is he trying to cause an accident on purpose or does he really not know what to do when it comes down to railroading work?"

"I think it's a little bit of both," Li answered, then he looked back to Thomas, "and Chikusho means 'Darn' in japanese."

Courtney then told Luke about the last encounter she had with the track boss and the problem with the points.

"In that case, you better take care out there Courtney," said Luke.

Courtney promised to, but she knew that like last time, it was only a matter of time before the mistakes made would cause an accident.

The next day, Courtney puffed along the 'Transfer Point' line after Luke had taken his ballast trucks down there. Nerine was riding in Courtney's cab as she was given the privalage to see the line before the grand opening.

"I think the Man in the Suit made the right choice in putting in a metal bridge," Courtney was saying as they rolled over the bridge.

"I have to agree with you," Nerine said kindly, "I heard all about what happened to Percy when that wooden bridge collapsed under his weight."

The rest of the run to the end of the line was a good one, then they came up to the 'curved' siding.

"Thank goodness those trucks are on on the inside of the siding and not the outside," Nerine looked out of the cab as Courtney moved onto the outside portion of the siding, she could see how close the tracks were, the trucks were so close that they could've scraped Courtney's left side.

"Any closer and those trucks could easily damage my left side," Courtney groaned.

They soon arrived at the end of the line for the time being, the workers were all set to go, they weren't alone today as the track boss was there too, "oh not you again," he groaned.

"You better believe it," grumbled the japanese engine, "you got the tracks too close to each other, we could..."

"They're fine just the way they are," the man grumbled.

"So you say," Courtney groaned out loud, "the last time you said that, I ended up coming off the tracks at those so called 'perfect' points you were talking about."

"We thought you would've learned something that day," Nerine added.

"Okay so I made a mistake with the points," the Track Boss said crossly, "but that siding is just fine."

Courtney only groaned loudly before looking back down to the Track Boss, "what does it take to make you see that you and your man made a mistake again? Do I have to get scraped before you learn that lesson?"

The Track Boss didn't say anything, instead - he walked off to supervise the workers doing their work.

"He doesn't listen that much does he?" Nerine asked.

"Not a bit," Courtney muttered, "what a baka!"

Still though, the siding was the least of everyone's concerns as there was a lot of work to do. The workers worked hard in placing the tracks in place, while Courtney went back and forth collecting loaded trucks of rails and railroad ties. Even Nerine helped the workers with this work, she didn't mind it at all - and even more surprising, she never once made a mistake.

"I think you might have a future in railroading Nerine," Courtney's Driver called out to her, "keep up the fantastic work!"

"Thank you," Nerine said quietly while blushing a small shade of red.

Even Courtney had to agree with her Driver on this one.

By the end of the day, the tracks had layed down and they were closer to the 'Transfer Point' station.

"Won't be long now," Courtney said happily.

Her crew took her a short distance up the line where they turned her on a 'temporary' wye, then after Nerine climbed back on board, and they got the trucks coupled up, they set off back to the yards.

It wasn't long before they came up to the 'curved' siding, Courtney could see a long line of ballast trucks waiting there.

"Oh well," she thought to herself, "they're on the inside line, so there's no need to worry."

She was soon to be proven wrong though - as Courtney came up to the 'curved' siding, she cried out in horror, for the trucks were not on the inside line - they were on the outside!

"STOP!" she cried to her driver, "or we're going to hit them!"

"Oh Chikusho!" shouted the Driver and quickly slammed on the brakes.

But trains can't stop on a dime and I'm sorry to say that Courtney wasn't going to stop in time before she hit the trucks. The crew and Nerine braced themselves for an impact while Courtney closed her eyes.

"This is going to hurt," she groaned out loud.

And indeed it was going to hurt, for Courtney and one of the trucks, who screamed out loud, but there nothing that could be done.

Courtney's left side smoke deflector hit one of the ballast trucks with a loud **BANG**! The force of the blow damaged the truck and spilled some of the ballast onto the ground, as for Courtney though - the truck ended up scratching her smoke deflector and benting her left side foot plate out of shape.

"Oh CHIKUSHO!" Courtney cried in pain.

When they finally stopped, the Driver climbed down and looked to Courtney's left side, it was bad - her smoke deflector had a giant sized hole on the side and the left side running board had been bent badly.

They soon rolled into the shed, Courtney was all in tears with so much pain, Thomas was the first to notice the damage.

"Cinders and Ashes!" he exclaimed, "What happened to you Courtney?"

"That baka happened, that's what!" she cried. It was Nerine who explained everything to Thomas, Li and Luke, while Courtney's crew went off to tell the Man in the Suit.

They soon returned with the Man in the Suit himself, who gasped at the damage that was caused.

"Oh my goodness," he said out loud, he was quiet for less than a minute, then he looked back up to Courtney, "I would like you to go to Ken's workshop and have your deflector and running board fixed."

"Yes sir, but what about..."

"Don't worry about the siding, I'm going to have it removed - after I have a talk to the Track Boss again," he sighed and groaned loudly, "here we go again. And as for that truck, Luke, I would like you to take it to the shops."

"Yes sir," said the diesel shunter.

And with that, he walked off back to his office, leaving Courtney to groan in pain as she looked at the damage done to her.

**Author's Note:**

This accident at the 'curved' siding was based on the real life event that occured to Union Pacific Challenger 3985 when it was the Clinchfield 676 in 1992. She came around a curved siding where it was tight and the tracks were too close to each other, and she ended up 'remodelling' a coal car and damaging her left side running board in the process. The damage was repaired by the next morning.

_**Repeat Performance**_

Courtney soon came back to the sheds with a huge piece of metal over the scratch on her smoke deflector. She looked at it with a queer look on her face, "it just feels funny," she said.

"For now maybe," said her Driver, "but you heard what the workmen say, they'll replace your smoke deflector soon."

"I guess so," she groaned as she was parked inside.

As soon as she did, she saw Li looking very cross and really ticked off, "what's the matter with you Li?" she asked.

"Those buggers are back," he snorted angerily. Everyone looked at him in a strange way, he sighed and told them, "Driver said that Sakura escaped from jail, and she's stolen Van from the Police Impound lot."

"Not again," groaned Thomas.

"Who are those two anyways?" Luke asked.

"They are two of the worst troublemakers our city has seen in years," said a voice.

The engines looked to find Sia and Nerine coming into the sheds, "we heard about them escaping too," said Nerine, who was the one who spoke up before they came in.

"Van is a bad mannered lorry," Sia answered, "He's got a bad history of disobeying traffic laws and nearly causing accidents..."

"That was until I stopped him," said Courtney, "he stopped on my track and I ran smack into his trailer."

Luke gasped when he heard that, "was anyone hurt?"

"No thankfully," Li answered this time, "Van is terrible, but he's not as bad as Sakura the Terror Queen. She was the ruler of the 'Tokyo Terrors', and she even made me crash into a coal truck."

"She was soon stopped though," Thomas answered, "after we stood up aganist her, and she crashed with one of the trucks."

"They do sound bad," said Luke, "so how did Sakura escape?"

"We have no idea," said Li's Driver, "come to think of it, no one knows how she managed to steal Van. But we know how she stole a whole trailer."

"And how did they do that?"

"She used Van's old trailer to break the gate, then she and Van took one of the other trailers and took off just as the police arrived."

"Yep, that's how they did it," said Sia.

"With those out now," said Thomas, "We will need to take extra care out at the crossings - or on the roads. But I have a question to ask here, did Sakura recover from her injury?"

"I don't think she did," Nerine answered, "it takes almost a month to recover from an injury like that, and it hasn't been a whole month."

After talking for a while, the engines set out to do their work. Courtney and Luke went back to finish up the Transfer Point Line, while Thomas and Li set off to do their work.

"Be careful out there!" Sia called out to them.

"We will!" all four engines shouted in unison.

In the yards, Thomas and Li shunted their trucks into long lines for the warehouse distract, but as they were doing it, they kept an eye out for Van and Sakura.

"It's better not to take any chances this time," Li was saying to Thomas, "We don't want to..."

"Upset Sakura," Thomas interupted, "thanks Li, I know what not to do. I was here when she tried to attack the Little Tokyo Railroad and what she did to you."

"Oh yeah," Li said quietly and looked down to the ballast in front of him, "I forgot that you were here."

Thomas chuckled quietly as he shunted his load of trucks into line, "Well, I better be off - I'll keep a close eye out for those two bakas."

"Very good Thomas," his Driver chuckled, "you're learning the japanese lingo well."

Thomas chuckled along, then once his guard blew the whistle, Thomas and his long train of trucks puffed out of the yards and out onto the main line.

Further up the line, Thomas spotted the 'Troublesome duo' as he called them, Van was parked by a street corner and Sakura was trying to change one of the tires, mostly because it was flat.

"You took a lot of damage when we stole that trailer," she said to Van.

"Doesn't matter," Van snickered, "As long as we can use this trailer to pay those silly engines out."

"And their pathetic friends too, they'll pay for what they did..." she groaned in pain for a split second, then she and Van started laughing over their devious plan.

"That didn't take too long," said Thomas' fireman.

"Quite right," said Thomas' Driver, "I'll phone the police once we get to the warehouse distract."

Thomas looked back to Sakura, she was groaning in pain as she worked, "so it's true," he thought to himself, "she hasn't recovered from that injury."

A few minutes later, Van was on the move again. Because of Sakura's injury, she could only use one leg to keep Van moving and when it was time to break him.

"So, who are we going to get our revenage on first? I would like to go after the tender engine."

"No, no, that american boy is first," Sakura argued with Van, "he and that orange haired girl too..."

Just then, they heard Li's loud american whistle in the distance, "that american engine will be first," Van and Sakura said in unison.

"I got an idea," said Sakura and put her foot down at the peddle and drove Van - onto the railway crossing, then she stopped him with his trailer on the crossing.

"He'll stop when he sees us," Sakura snickered, "then I'll tackle the Driver and fireman out of the cab, and drive him until he crashed - maybe into the doors of that warehouse distract."

But Van wasn't so sure about this plan, he remembered all too well what happened the last time his trailer was sticking out on the tracks.

Li soon puffed into view, "oh stars and stripes, not again!"

"Oh come on!" the Driver groaned, "you have to be kidding me," he went for the brake handle, but tripped and fell onto the foot plate.

"Are you okay?" the fireman asked.

"I am, but not that stupid Van, he's on our tracks!"

The Driver got back up quickly, then he pulled on the brake handle - but like the many road crossing incidents from before, Li could not stop in time.

"Ah Sakura," Van called, "I don't think he's going to stop!"

"I'm sure he will," she snickered, but stopped when she saw Li getting closer and closer to the trailer, "then again - maybe not. I better get you out of here," but by then, it was much too late.

Li shut his eyes and so did Van, Sakura could do nothing but brace for impact - Li smashed right into the trailer, but unlike Courtney's incident, Li smashed the trailer into a few dozen pieces.

"OW!" Li cried, "that hurt!"

Once they stopped a bit of a distance away, the Driver and fireman climbed down to inspect the damage done - Li's front end was bent out of shape. As for the trailer, there was nothing left at all - while Van was left untouched and unhurt.

"And so history repeats itself," Van groaned.

"Yeah, I'm starting to regret my decision."

At that moment, the police showed up, they checked to make sure that no one was hurt, then they arrested Sakura again, and a tow truck came to take Van to the impound again.

When Li arrived at the warehouse distract, and after he shunted his trucks into a siding, the workmen went to work in mending his front end. He stayed there until sundown when he took another goods train back to the yards.

He soon arrived at the sheds to find the three other engines, Kaede, Sia and Nerine waiting for him.

"Thanks to you Li," said Sia, "Sakura and Van have been caught and won't be causing any trouble."

"Even though you had to teach them what happens when you mess with two thousand pounds of crushing steel," Courtney chuckled, then she looked at her friends with a serious look, "as long as we're talking about good news - the Transfer Point Line is complete! Luke and I gave the official test runs and..."

"It passed," added Luke, "and now the grand opening celebration can proceed as planned."

"That is great news!" Kaede and Thomas shouted in unison. They looked at each other and began to chuckle, then for the next half hour, they all talked about the upcoming celebration.

**Author's Note:**

The accident at the level crossing was based on a real life event when a tractor trailer was waiting with other vehicles behind a level crossing, until the Driver saw the green traffic light change. The Driver moved the truck across the tracks, just as the crossing lights went off and the arms went down, she didn't even know that until it was too late. The truck was stopped on the crossing with the trailer still hanging across the crossing. An Amtrack passenger train came towards the crossing at 70 mph and smashed right into the trailer, demolishing it to pieces and damaging the locomotive at the same time. Luckily though, nobody was seriously hurt in this accident, and this includes the truck driver and her dog that was riding in the cab with her.

_**The Official Opening**_

At long last, the 'Transfer Point' line was finally ready for the grand opening party. By now, Courtney had a brand new smoke deflector to replace the broken one, she was actually quite happy to have a new one and the damaged truck looked like it was never damaged at all.

Word of the official opening spread quickly in Tokyo and before long, that was all everyone was talking about, even Itsuki was talking about it.

"You know it's important if he's talking about something else other than girls," Li chuckled quietly.

"Still, this official opening does bring up an important question," said Courtney, "who's going to be pulling the special train on that day?"

"All of you will," said the Man in the Suit said as he came up to the sheds.

"How though sir?" Thomas asked, "Luke and I have chained couplings, while Courtney and Li have knuckle couplings."

"That is true Thomas, and believe me, I was wondering for quite a while on how this would work, at first I thought it would be okay if Courtney and Li had bufferbeams installed, but then I noticed that we don't enough passenger coaches with chained couplings."

"So does this mean that we're to have knuckle couplings instead?" Luke asked.

"No Luke, the answer is quite simple, I don't know why I didn't think of it in the first place..."

"Two trains then?" Courtney asked before the Man in the Suit could answer.

"Ah yes," said the Man in the Suit quietly and going a small shade of red, "two trains it is, which makes me wonder why I didn't...ah never mind, Courtney and Li; you will take the first train with four of our special coaches, while Thomas and Luke doublehead with their train of five coaches."

"Why do they get more?" Li asked.

"Mostly cause their coaches are smaller than the ones you and Courtney will take," Li's Driver answered this time.

"Well put Driver," said the Man in the Suit, "now, off you go engines."

And on that note, the engines rolled out, one by one, out of the sheds and towards the coach yards. When they arrived, they were greeted by lots of passengers on the platform, which also included their friends. Kaede, Primula, Sia, Nerine and Asa all wore special dresses for the event, while Drew and Rin wore smartly dressed clothes.

"Wow!" Courtney gasped, "this is almost like when the line was first opened, I've never seen so many passengers before."

"Me neither," her Driver agreed.

Thomas arranged the coaches for his doubleheader with Luke, while Li arranged the coaches for his and Courtney's own train. The coaches here were former Canadian Pacific passenger coaches from the early 1900's, some were still in their brown paint scheme, while others were painted in dark green.

Once the trains were ready, Courtney backed down on the train first, then Li buffered on behind the train. Luke backed down on the other set of coaches first, then Thomas buffered up in front.

"I can't wait to tell Percy about this when I return to Sodor," Thomas thought happily to himself.

Once ready, the two trains pulled up to the Little Tokyo Railroad's big station. Once again, Kaede was taking lots of pictures of the entire event while Stephine the Book writer spoke to the workers about the line's opening.

"Take a look around you Luke," Thomas called to the diesel shunter, "This is what it's like to be a famous engine."

"I can see that," Luke smiled, then sighed, "I only wish my brothers and sisters could see this."

There were indeed a lot of passengers, more than anyone ever thought possible. So Li had to go back to collect a couple of their Union Pacific coaches and couple them to the back of the train.

For today's run, the Man in the Suit was to ride in Courtney's cab as they rolled down the line.

At last, the clock struck the hour, the two guard's whistle blew, the Man in the Suit opened Courtney's regulator, and the first train pulled out of the station.

"Here we go," Thomas said cheerfully as his doubleheader train pulled out of the station.

The trains rolled on out of the station, past the docks where Rick worked, who looked away with an angry look...

"Same as always," Li muttered quietly.

Then after passing the 'water's edge', the trains were switched over to the long strecth of track leading to the Transfer Point. Once out on the open main line, the trains picked up speed. The engine's wheels were turning so fast that they only looked like blurs.

"This is the way to run a railroad," Courtney cheered happily.

The joyful moment wasn't going to last that long though - as they rolled over the now metal bridge, Courtney started to feel sick to the boiler.

"Something's wrong with Courtney," cried her Driver, "we better slow it down and see what the problem is."

"Oh of all days," groaned the Man in the Suit, "it had to happen on the day of our..."

Suddenly, there was a sudden jolt and Courtney ground to a hault. Li felt the jolt and called out to his crew to stop him, thankfully they did. Thomas and Luke stopped a bit of a distance behind the first train.

"I wonder what's going on," Thomas said out loud.

"Looks like Courtney's failed," said Thomas' Driver.

And he was right, Courtney had indeed failed and by the looks of things, she wasn't going anywhere for a while.

"Courtney can't pull the train anymore sir," said Courtney's Driver, "not unless you want our own japanese engine to blow her boiler off her frames."

"Very well," sighed the Man in the Suit, "but what are we going to do now? We're nowhere near a siding and Li can't push the train alone."

"It doesn't look good," Thomas said quietly to Kaede, who had climbed out to see what happened, "Li won't be able to move the train on his own without Courtney helping."

"What about Ken?" Kaede asked, "he's got knuckle couplings, maybe he could help move the train."

"Yeah, that could work," said Thomas' fireman, "I'll go talk to the Man in the Suit."

He walked off towards the front of the first train, spoke with Courtney's crew and the Man in the Suit, then returned shortly, "it is a good plan Kaede, the Man in the Suit has agreed to try it and said that if Ken helps, then we won't need to take Courtney off until after the celebration."

"You are one clever girl Kaede," Thomas said kindly.

"I have to agree," said Luke.

Kaede blushed modestly.

Within minutes, Ken arrived after using the other line to get in front of the train. As he was being coupled up, Courtney's crew were putting Courtney's fire out, just to be on the safe side.

"I'm sorry about this," said Courtney weakily to Ken, "I know you and Li are going to have your work cut out for you now."

"Don't worry about it Courtney," Ken smiled, "these things can happen from time to time. Now, do your best to keep the brakes off."

"I'll try."

Once all was ready, the Man in the Suit climbed into Ken's cab for the rest of the trip, while Courtney's crew stayed in their engine's cab to keep the brakes off. Ken's whistle blew loud and long, then slowly but surely, the long train set out once more. Kaede climbed back into Thomas' cab just before the train was ready to go.

Thanks to Ken, the train arrived only a few minutes late, but the passengers didn't mind at all, they thanked Ken for coming to their rescue and thanked the engines for getting them there, and yes, they did thank Kaede for her idea too.

The Man in the Suit then climbed down from Ken's cab and walked over to the platform. He raised his hand for silence, then he gave out his speech...

"Ladies, gentlemen and engines...today, we are proud to open this new line, known by many now as the Transfer Point Line. It's been a long hard project, and I will admit that we had some problems with our temporary wooden bridge falling into the rivers below, and our Courtney sideswiping a ballast truck," Courtney groaned when she heard that, "I am proud to say though that despite the problems, our dedicated workmen and engines never gave up for a minute, they continued on regardless."

"We've also been honored by the pressence of Thomas the Tank Engine, who had come from the Island of Sodor to help us continue the work on this line and to help with the work on the railway too, and he wasn't alone as Percy helped too when he was here, I owe him a great deal of thanks too. And I would also like to thank Luke, our new diesel locomotive that was bought from the Other Railway in England - thanks to Luke, we finished earlier than we had planned."

"How does it feel Luke?" Thomas whispered, "to have your moment in the spotlight?"

"It feels grand," the diesel shunter whispered back happily.

"And now," continued the Man in the Suit, "after five long months of hard work and determination, I am proud to say that our new Transfer Point Line is open for business!"

This was followed by loud cheers, whistles and even an air horn from Luke.

"This is a great day for the Little Tokyo Railroad," Courtney thought happily to herself, "and for everyone here in Tokyo."

And indeed Courtney was right, even when she was taken to the workshops to be repaired, the other engines found that they were busier than ever with more goods coming in from the Other Japanese Railways, and even more passengers coming in after riding the high speed passenger trains. Lots of passengers often say after their rides, "we promise to return and we'll tell all of our friends about the grand Little Tokyo Railway."

And to hear that come from the visitors was a grand honor indeed for the Little Tokyo Engines, their friends in the city, their controller, the Man in the Suit and even the engines of Sodor.

**The End!**


	11. Sia and James the Red Engine

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 11**_

_**Sia and James the Red Engine**_

_**Based on the Original "2009 Volume" by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Just before the summer vacation was to begin, Sia told off some stories to her friends about her own adventures on Sodor during their trip. She spoke about her little arguments with James following his 'tipping over' incident and how the two become friends, after they had gotten themselves into trouble. When I next saw Kaede and Rin, they asked me if I could write a book about Sia's stories, and of course, the answer is - yes! And so, here's a book about both Sia and James, the two reds._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Boiling Tempers

-Poor Attitudes

-Sia, James and the Mudslide

-Sia's Day Out with James

_**Boiling Tempers**_

It was a quiet day in Tokyo as the summer season drew closer and closer. Still though, it had been a busy day not only for the Little Tokyo Railroad engines, but for the students of Tokyo's best high school.

"I'm glad those tests are over and done with," Sia groaned as she, Rin, Kaede, Nerine and Asa were eating lunch on the rooftop as per usual, "they were brutal."

"It's not as bad as summer homework though," Rin said quietly.

"Summer homework?" exclaimed Sia, "oh no! Those are two words that don't belong together!"

"It's not that bad," said Asa, "just get your summer homework done and over with at the start of the summer vacation, then you got nothing to be worried about."

"I guess so," Sia sighed quietly, "but what happens if I don't finish it before the summer vacation ends?"

"You don't want to know," Rin muttered quietly.

Sia could only guess the kind of punishment she would get for not doing her homework, "it's probably not good," she groaned, "probably worse than what James gave me."

"What do you mean Sia?" Kaede asked.

"I'm talking about our trip to Sodor, I got myself into a bit of a fight with James - I'll admit this about that red engine, he doesn't give up that easily."

"And neither do you," Nerine chuckled quietly.

"That's true," Sia giggled, "James and I are like two peas in a pot."

"Sia," Kaede piped up, "could you tell us about what happened?"

"We do have plenty of time before the school bell rings," agreed Asa.

"Very well," Sia smiled and began to tell her friends the story...

Following his little 'tipping over' incident outside of Knapford Station, James puffed back to the station after spending three days at the works.

"Careful as you puff along James," Gordon called from platform one, "we don't need you tipping over again."

"Hey Gordon, shut up!" James snapped crossly.

As he passed through the station, he could hear some laughing from a young teenage girl. It was Sia, she was laughing loudly. James snorted disgustly and puffed off towards the yards.

"Silly girl," James huffed crossly.

Of course the real reason why Sia was laughing was because a porter had told her a story that occured years before about Percy and his scarf.

Even so, James thought Sia was laughing at him. As a result of it, he bashed his trucks crossly around the yards and making them go, "oh, oh, oh! Whatever are you doing?"

"Shut up and get a move on!" James snapped as he shunted them into place.

That night in the sheds, the other main line engines were talking about the special visitors from Tokyo, "did you hear," Henry said out loud, "how that one japanese girl, ah - Kaede I believe her name was, she stopped that crazied nutcase and helped bring Thomas to a safe stop."

"I must admit that I haven't heard about it," said Gordon, "I've been a little busy with my work to hear such stories."

"She sure was brave though," said Neville, "and daring too."

James grumbled into the sheds, no one payed any attention to him.

"I actually got the chance to meet one of those girls earlier today," Hank piped up, "the one red haired girl named Sia. She was quite friendly, she even took my picture."

"She doesn't even have red hair," James grumbled, "it's more like a tusken red, not bright red like me. I don't know what's so special about this girl anyways."

"She happens to be a princess of the realm of the gods, according to what Thomas and Percy have said."

"She doesn't seem that special to me," James grumbled crossly, "now shut up and go sleep, I have to get up early tomorrow because I have to take another stupid goods train."

And with that said, James closed his eyes and went angerily to sleep. The other engines remained respectfully silent.

The following next morning, James was out and about with his goods train. He was to take it from the yards of knapford and take it to the junction for Thomas' branch line.

"Royality indeed," James grumbled crossly, "the engines are all talking nonscene."

The trucks giggled agmost themselves as they listened to James' complaining attitude.

It wasn't long before James reached the junction, Emily was already there, she was waiting for the trucks he was to bring in.

"Alright lads," shouted the lead truck, "let's get James crosser than he already is. Let's do this - on my command..." they waited till they passed Emily, then..."NOW! On! On! On!"

The trucks surged hard into James' tender and pushed him along the line at a great speed. The yard foreman ran over to the points for the runaway siding, but by the time he got there, it was far too late as James passed by in a frantic hurry.

"What's going on?" a voice asked, it was Sia, she had just arrived to get some pictures.

"James is out of control," Emily cried.

Emily was right, James wasn't able to stop the truck's mad rush. His Driver applied the brakes as best as he could, but he was still going much too fast.

"Stop it you miserable lot," James shouted angerily, but it did no good.

Then he looked ahead, "oh glory!" he shouted. For there in front of him was a train full of vegatables that needed were needed for the local market. James and his crew tried even harder to prevent another accident, but it was no use.

"Push him off the tracks! Push him off the tracks!" the stupid trucks giggled.

There was nothing for James to do now but to shut his eyes and brace himself for the impact. His Driver and fireman couldn't jump to safety, so they held on and braced themselves for impact.

There was a loud splintering crash as James smashed into the tail end of the train, he demolished the trucks to pieces, while boxes of vegatables went everywhere and smashed all over his boiler.

"Yuck!" James groaned as steam leaked out everywhere.

As the noise of the crash died away, everyone looked to see that James was covered from funnel to tender in vegatables.

"You look like a tossed salad on wheels James," Emily called out as she went to get the breakdown train.

James grunted under his breath, then he heard some laughing - it was coming from Sia again, "why that cheek, she's laughing at my accident again. A real princess would never laugh at something like that, I knew she was a fake!"

Sia was only laughing because of Emily's joke, but the moment she heard James' remark, she stopped laughing and looked crossly at him.

"What did you just say?" she asked angerily.

"You heard me," James shouted angerily, "you're not a real princess, you're not even a real red head."

Sia was now really cross with James, "excuse me? How dare you say I'm not a red head when I really am! At least my hair isn't a dump shade of red like you!"

Now it was James who was cross, actually - he was livid!

A noisy argument started between Sia and James, that was until Emily arrived with Harvey and Rocky. They easily rerailed James and towed him away from the junciton, still fuming with rage.

"You better hope I don't see you again before I go back to Tokyo!" Sia shouted angerily to James, "cause the next time I see you..."

"Oh safe your breath, imposter!"

Sia's reply was drowned out by the sound of Emily's loud whistle. It might've been best if James didn't hear it at all, cause it didn't sound friendly at all.

"What did you say to James excatly?" Nerine asked.

"Trust me Rina, you don't want to know," Sia answered while raising an eyebrow, then she sighed deeply, "that was my first real meeting with James and so far, it turned out badly."

"After all those insults, I'm not surprised," said another voice, it was Mayumi, she was coming up with her lunch and had overheard their conversation, "I'm sorry about being late, I forgot to finish my last assignment last night, so the teacher made me stay in class until it was done."

"Sia," Kaede spoke up next, "did that accident with James occur just before Rimu helped save Daisy?"

"Yep, it was just before that time," she answered, "it wasn't till sometime after that very rescue that I got to see James again - as you can guess, things didn't improve at all, not even James' attitude."

Everyone then went quiet as Sia began her next story...

_**Poor Attitudes**_

James' run in with the vegatables didn't cause alot of damage, but his shiny red coat was covered with all the vegatables, mostly the tomatos. He was partly glad when his paint was shining once more, but he was still cross was Sia.

"How dare she laugh at my accidents," he grumbled, "I'll teach that silly girl what a splendid engine can do!"

And by golly, James was going to do just that...

A few days later, Sia was waiting at one of the stations, she had calm down by now and was more than willing to apologize to James for the way she acted. She waited for a while, then at last, "here he comes," she smiled and waved to James.

James didn't smile though, instead, much to everyone's surprise - James wheesed his steam all over the place, making poor Sia jump in fright and when the steam cleared away, she gasped to see that she was soaked.

"What did you do that for?" Sia called back to James sounding angry.

"That's for laughing at my mishaps," James chuckled in a cheeky way, "And now I'm laughing at your own mishap!" James felt that he had made his point across, and started cheering up at once. Sia on the other hand was just as cross as James was.

A little later that day, James was shunting some trucks into a siding. He noticed Sia watching him shunting, James was just about to tease Sia about getting soaked earlier, but before he could, he felt a huge bump on his buffers.

"OW!" cried the trucks.

James had not been paying attention to what he was doing and before his crew could stop him safely, he banged his trucks into the buffers - making dirty coal dust spill all over him.

"Oh bother!" James groaned.

He then looked at the platform and saw Sia laughing again, he was only laughing because she thought James looked funny with coal dust all over him, but James felt she was laughing at him about his accident.

"Why that cheeky..." but James was interupted as coal dust poured out of his funnel, flew into the air and landed down on Sia, covering her in the coal dust.

"Payback is great," James snickered as he puffed away.

That night at the hotel, Sia complained bitterly about the way James blew steam and coal dust at her, but she only complained to herself, she never once mentioned this to her friends.

"I don't want them to think that all the main line engines are bad," she thought to herself, "it's just that James."

Speaking of which, James was puffing into the sheds feeling quite pleased with himself.

"Hullo," Donald said while raising an eyebrow, "ye seem ta be happy litta James."

"I am indeed Donald, I taught that silly girl to never laugh at me," he then explained about blowing steam on Sia earlier that day, then blowing coal dust all over her.

Needless to say, none of the engines found the situations funny at all.

"James," said Gordon, "what is the matter with you? You can't go blowing steam on important visitors like a princess."

"Or blowing dirty coal dust all over them either," Henry agreed, "You should know better James, what would the Fat Controller say if he found out what you did?"

James was silent for a while as he thought about what the others said, "okay you might have a good point," he said.

"So, ye're gonna apologize to Sia?" Douglas asked.

"Apologize? Never! I will never apologize! That silly brat should apologize to me for laughing at me during my accidents!"

The other engines said no more, they have heard this kind of attitude before.

"You know something," Gordon whispered to Henry, "this reminds me of the way he used to act around the diesels, do you remember that?"

"I remember it perfectly," Henry whispered back, "so my guess is that James will have to get into trouble before he sees that he was wrong again."

"I can hear you you know!" James snapped, "stop whispering in corners!"

And with a gasp, the two big engines went into silence.

The next day, James was at the water tower outside of Wellsworth station. Sia was also there, she wanted to see the famous Edward's station, but she wasn't happy to see James there.

As James waited, there came a cry from down the line.

"Look out James!" it was BoCo, his trucks had come uncoupled from him and were coming towards James.

"Oh no," James groaned and his eyes.

The trucks bumped into James' buffers and pushed him back so much that the water tower's hose moved away from his tender and over his boiler. Water poured down all over James until his fireman was able to stop the flow of water.

BoCo soon arrived at the station and apologized for the accident. He was coupled up to the trucks and towed them away. James thought for sure he heard Sia laughing again, so he wheesed steam all over the place.

"Maybe now you'll learn," James grumbled loudly and puffed back to the tower.

What James didn't know was that it wasn't Sia who laughed _at_ him, it was another little girl that was younger than Sia. He also didn't know that he blew steam off at all the passengers on the platform, along with Sia and a familar person in a fancy suit.

"James!" shouted the voice, it was the Fat Controller.

"Oh, ah...hello sir, you been there long?"

"Yes James," he said sounding angry, "I heard that you've been wheesing steam at the platforms, I was hoping that the rumors were false - but I see that they are right!"

"Oh well sir, I didn't mean to blow steam on you, I..."

"You were trying to blow your steam on someone else, am I right?" he asked crossly.

James didn't say anything, the soaked passengers on the platform gave the Fat Controller all the answers he needed, "James, I am most disappointed in you. After today, you are being put onto goods services until you behave yourself!"

"Goods work, but sir..."

"You will do as you are told James," the Fat Controller told him firmly, "if you don't, then I will leave you in the sheds until such a time when I can trust you to behave yourself! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," James sighed unhappily.

"Good," huffed the Fat Controller and he walked off to the coaches.

Although the Fat Controller had given James the chance to pull the passenger train for the rest of the day, he wasn't too happy to be relegated onto goods work.

"It's all because of her," he grumbled, "if I see her again, I will give her a piece of my mind."

James wouldn't have too long to wait...

The Fat Controller got off the train a few stations before the end of the line for the passenger train. When they arrived, Sia came up to the front of the train, looking really mad at James, while James was just as mad at Sia.

"Thanks to you, I'm stuck on goods work, a splendid engine like me shouldn't be doing goods work!"

"You call yourself a splendid engine, when all along - you're a stupid engine. It's your own fault that you're on goods work, it has nothing to do with me. Maybe if you stopped blowing your steam off in the stations..."

"I would if you stopped laughing at me!"

This went on and on until the stationmaster was finally able to seperate the two.

"You better get your tender filled up James," he said firmly, "then get to the other side of the train! As for you missy, please go back to your coach please?"

"Very well," Sia sighed unhappily, but before she did, she shot James an angry look.

James shot her a dirty look too as he puffed away to the water tower.

"Oh boy," said Mayumi after Sia finished telling her second story of the day, "you weren't kidding when you said things didn't improve between you and James."

"That's true," sighed Sia as she took a bite of her lunch, "but it could've been worse if I knew how to use magic - then who knows what could've happened then."

"It probably wouldn't be good at all," said Nerine quietly.

The group of friends continued to eat their lunch and remained quiet throughout that time, until Asa spoke up next, "so what happened that finally ended your little fight?"

"It was mostly a close call and a whole lot of luck from both James and myself."

And once again, everyone went quiet as Sia began to tell the next story...

_**Sia, James and the Mudslide**_

The next few days later, James worked hard with goods trains, mostly the slow good services while Sia visited Thomas' branch line with the rest of her friends.

Then one night, a rain storm came down hard. The engines who had to work during the night complained about the rain.

"Whew!" Molly gasped as she came back to the sheds, "it's really coming down hard out there, it might cause some damage to the lineside, so you engines better take care with your trains tomorrow."

"And that goes for you too James," Gordon said firmly.

"Bother that silly girl," James thought to himself.

"He's gone," Henry said quietly, "he's in his own little world."

"Again," Neville sighed quietly, then he shouted, "TAKE CARE OUT THERE JAMES!" But still, James didn't listen to a single word to what Neville said.

The next afternoon, James was out and about with the slow goods train. Despite the fact that the rain had stopped more than a few hours ago, James was still grumpy. Maybe it was because he was still pulling the goods train, or it could've been because of Sia, no one but James knew.

His mood didn't improve as he came up to a station and saw only one person standing on the platform.

"Oh no, not her again," he groaned.

It was indeed the very being he was hoping not to see, the princess of the realm of the gods herself, Sia. She was looking cross as she stood on the platform, but it wasn't because of James.

"Excuse me," Sia said to James' crew when James was brought to a stop at the platform, due to a red signal, "can you help me?"

"Sure miss," said James' Driver kindly, "what seems to be the problem?"

"Well, I seem to have missed my train back to the Sodor Hotel. Could you give me a ride back to the hotel?"

"Of course we can, as long as you don't mind riding in the cab and listening to James."

"I don't mind, thank you."

James wasn't too happy about the idea, but there was nothing he could do. Sia climbed into the cab and talked with the crew as they waited. At last, the signal changed to green and James set out on his way.

"Ah well," James thought to himself, "won't be long before we reach the hotel, then I won't have to see her again for the rest of the day."

Or so he thought - as James puffed along, he was flagged down by a guard, "our train has come off the tracks, you'll have to take the branch line back to the yards."

"Oh no," James grumbled again, "first she's riding in my cab and now I'm being diverted onto a branch line. What else can go wrong?"

James, his crew and Sia were soon to find out.

The tracks creaked and groaned under the weight of James' train.

"Easy does it James," said his Driver, "we don't need you flying off the tracks like Gordon did."

Before James could reply back, there was a loud rumbling noise from James' right side - everyone looked and saw a huge mudslide coming down. It hit James with a dull thud, his crew fell back and landed on the pile of coal near the tender, while Sia fell forward and landed on her knees. Luckily, James stayed on the tracks, but the first few trucks came off the tracks.

James' Driver picked himself up from the pile of coal and quickly applied the brakes.

"Well, that was different," said the fireman quietly.

"Alright, do me a favour and see how many trucks derailed back there."

"Right away," he said to the Driver. The fireman looked out of the cab and gasped at the sight...the first few trucks were indeed derailed, but at the worst possible spot - the earth and ballast underneath those trucks were falling down to the creek below.

"We're wheel deep in trouble," called the Driver.

"No, it's worse than that," said the fireman, "if we don't get James out of here, then those trucks could pull us back and we'll fall into the creek just below us - if you don't believe me, take a look for yourself."

Both the Driver and Sia looked out and gasped at what the fireman just saw.

"We better get James out of here," said the Driver sounding scared. He opened the regulator, but James wasn't moving at all, reason being was because of the mud, it kept him from moving.

His Driver applied the brakes and stopped James, the fireman looked back and saw more earth and ballast fall into the creek below.

"Well I'm blowed as to how we're going to get out of this mess," sighed the fireman.

"I wish there was something I could do," Sia said quietly, "if only I could use my magic..." it was then Sia came up with an idea, "go out and get James uncoupled, I'll deal with the mud."

"You?" James asked in surprise.

"It's either me, or you go into that creek for a dip - and I don't think you'll want that."

The Driver and fireman were slightly confused about the plan, but they agreed to try. The fireman jumped out and walked carefully over to the coupling between James' tender and the first truck.

Sia closed her eyes and focused, "I can do this, I can do this," she said quietly to herself, "for my friend here, I won't let him down."

All that focusing was indeed paying off - for a small raincloud appeared out of nowhere and rained down on the mud. Now the fireman could get to the coupling and uncouple James. Sia then focused her magic again and make it rain all around James and washed the mud away.

"Impressive," James said quietly, "can everyone from the realm of the gods do that?"

"Some can," Sia called quietly, "but I've never been able to use magic before, so today is a rare occasion."

Finally, the mud was washing away, the fireman jumped back into the cab while the Driver opened the regulator.

"We're moving, keep going, don't stop!" shouted James and Sia in unison.

And slowly, wheel turn by wheel turn, James moved away from the derailed trucks - and just in the nick of time too, for the earth, ballast and track fell into the creek below. Five of the trucks fell into the creek too, while the rest stayed on the rails.

The guard called down the line and informed the nearest signalbox not to allow any other trains through and asked if Harvey and Rocky could come rescue the lost trucks.

It was another hour before the trucks were lifted out, soaked and dirty, and it was another thirty minutes before James could set off with his train. When he arrived at the big station's yards, he found the Fat Controller waiting for him.

"Late again James," he said sternly while shaking his head.

"Sir..." James began, but was cut off when someone stepped down from his cab.

It was Sia, "Excuse me Sir Topham Hatt," she said polietly, "James had nothing to do with this train being late," she then explained everything from being diverted down the branch line, the mudslide and the near fall into the water, "If we didn't react the way we did, James would be in the water with those trucks and this train would be later than ever."

"Thank you for telling me this young lady," said the Fat Controller, then he looked to James, "well done James, and your crew too."

The Fat Controller then walked off back to his office, James looked down to Sia, "you deserve some credit, it was because of you that I was able to escape that mess. But I have to know, why did you..."

"Why did I help you? It's quite simple, I hate to see one of my friends get hurt - or get into trouble."

"Thank you," then James had to ask, "Why did you laugh at my accidents, did you think they were funny?"

"What? No, I didn't think they were funny, I was only laughing because of certain jokes told and a story I was told about an engine wearing a scraf. As for when you were covered in coal dust, I didn't mean to laugh - I just thought that you would be laughing too, you did look comical."

"I guess so," James chuckled quietly, "listen, ah - I'm sorry for the way I acted in front of you. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course I will...fellow red," Sia then winked at James with her left eye. James blushed a small shade of red, but smiled at his new friend.

"So, what do you think?" Sia asked her friends.

"Simply amazing, and a little bit thrilling," Mayumi answered, "weren't you scared at that moment?"

"Of course I was - that's the whole reason I was able to use my magic," she sighed unhappily as she took another bite of her lunch, "it's too bad though that I can't do it again."

"Still, it's good to hear that you two became good friends at last," smiled Kaede as she took another bite of her lunch.

"Yeah, I am happy that we became friends. From that point onwards, James and I never argued about the color of his red coat of paint or my tusken red hair, and we are both quite agreed on the subject of mudslides."

"I bet James is upset now because you're here," Mayumi spoke up again.

"I'm sure he is. I miss him too, but I promised him that I would return one day."

"When did you make that promise?" Rin asked.

"Well," Sia smiled and began to tell her next story...

**Author's Note:**

This story is based loosely on a real life event where a CSX freight train was stopped over a gap in the tracks due to the fact that the earth and ballast had been washed away because of a flood. The earth and ballast finally gave way and the second locomotive went crashing into the water, when and where it happened is unknown.

_**Sia's Day Out with James**_

Following the near disaster on the old branch line, workers went out to repair the line as best as they could. It took them quite a long time, they had to bring in new earth and ballast, but the line was soon repaired at around the time Primula's Station was opened for business. During that time, James had proven to the Fat Controller that he has learned his lesson, so the Fat Controller agreed that he could pull passenger trains.

One night, James came puffing into the sheds looking excited, "you won't believe this, but the Fat Controller's giving me the chance to pull the express tomorrow."

"Oh I heard," grumbled Gordon, "now I'm stuck with goods trains."

Duck sighed quietly to Donald, "when one's happy, the other is miserable - I doubt that's ever going to change."

Donald only sighed in agreement, "at least yon James isna sayin' rude things about Sia."

James overheard Donald and sighed deeply to himself, "I can't believe I was so rude to someone so innocent. I have to find a way to make it up to her," he thought to himself, but he didn't know how he was going to do that.

"He's lost in his own little world again," Henry whispered to Bear.

The next morning, James puffed slowly in the big station at Knapford with the express. As he puffed in, he could see Sia standing nearby, she was smiling and waving to James.

"Good morning James," she said cheerfully as he came to a stop, "beautiful weather we're having today."

"Yeah, it is beautiful," James smiled, "so, what are you up to today Sia?"

"Nothing much really. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you like to come along with us today. You can ride in my cab again if you would like."

Sia looked over to the cab to see James' crew nod their heads happily, she then looked over to James, "I would love to come along with you," and on that happy note, she walked over to the cab while the rest of the passengers boarded the train.

"Hopefully this will make up for the way I acted in front of her," James thought to himself.

Finally after another five minutes, the passengers were on board, the guard blew his whistle and James puffed slowly out of the station.

The train was running smoothly, the coaches were quite pleased with James and the passengers were enjoying the smooth run. During their trip, Sia told off some stories about her home in the realm of the gods and her home in Tokyo.

"I wish I could go there," said James.

"Which place would you be talking about?" asked the Driver.

"I was talking about Tokyo," James chuckled quietly.

"Well I'm sure the Fat Controller will let you go to Tokyo someday," Sia said kindly, "as for the realm of the gods, you might have a difficult time moving around there - actually, you won't be able to go anywhere there."

"Why?" James asked curiously.

"Well, it's because we don't have trains in the realm of the gods."

Just then, James felt his Driver's hand on the brake handle, "What's going on?" he asked.

"There's a stalled train on our tracks James," called the Driver, "we better see if everything is okay."

So the Driver brought James to slow stop just a few yards away from the stalled train's coaches, then the Driver walked up to the front of the other passenger train. He came back a few minutes later with the news.

"It seems that the Driver of the train in front of us wasn't feeling well and was rushed to the hospital."

"Is the engine a steamer or a diesel?" James asked.

"It's a diesel, and there's no one else who could take the train to the next station. Until now, I could drive the diesel, but there is the problem of the express."

"It's only too bad I don't know how to drive a steam engine," sighed the fireman.

"Maybe Sia could drive me," suggested James, "if it's okay with her."

Sia looked up to James while looking a little nervous, "I don't know if I can do it. Besides, I don't know how to operate a steam engine."

James then looked over to his Driver, "Could you teach her a few things before you go to the diesel's cab?"

"Sure James, but it's up to Sia if she wants to do it."

Sia looked back up to James again, then she looked at the two passenger trains. She then gave her answer, "I'll give it a good try."

She then walked with the Driver back into the cab while the fireman spoke to the guard about the slight delay. The Driver then showed Sia how to operate James, then once she had the basic understanding on how to operate a steam engine, James' Driver walked off back to the diesel.

"Good luck Sia," he called to the tusken red haired girl, "and remember to depart one minute after the other train starts off."

"I'll remember," she called.

Within a couple of minutes, the diesel and his passenger train started to roll away down the tracks. Then once James' fireman was back in the cab and doing his job, Sia opened the regulator and slowly, wheel turn by wheel turn, James and the express started to roll down the tracks.

"So far so good," she thought to herself.

She opened the regulator a little more and James started to speed up. All the while, Sia was worried that she might make a mistake and end up making James crash into the other passenger train.

"James!" she called out, "are you sure I can do this?"

"Of course I'm sure, you can do it Sia, there's no need to worry - you're just fine and I have plenty of faith in you."

Sia blushed when she heard James say that, she started to calm down and kept an eye on James' speed and of the tracks ahead.

"You're driving James just a professionial," smiled the fireman as he shovelled coal into the firebox, "who knows, maybe you might have a future in railroading."

"Me?" Sia asked in surprise, "really?"

"Of course," smiled the fireman, even James was quick to agree with him.

They soon arrived at the next station, there was no sign of the other passenger train. The Stationmaster came out to speak to them, "The train's already gone by and is heading off down the line, the driver said that he'll meet up with you at the end of the line."

"What do you say Sia?" James asked, "do you want to continue?"

"Yes," Sia said happily.

In a few minutes, the guard's whistle blew, Sia opened the regulator again and James puffed slowly out of the station. The rest of the journey was a good one, the coaches didn't rock and James puffed along at a nice steady pace. Sia did just as good of a job as James' Driver would.

"Keep it up Sia, we're doing good!" James called out.

"I'm not going to let you down James!" Sia called out to him, "I promise!"

They soon reached the end of the line at Vicarstown station where the other passenger train could be seen waiting.

When the passengers heard the whole story, they told Sia that they were proud of her and took pictures of her with James.

"Well, well, well," said a familar voice, it was the Fat Controller coming through the crowd to see James and Sia, "here I thought I'd seen everything, but this is the first time I've heard of a princess driving a steam engine. Sia, is it?"

"Yes, it is sir," said Sia quietly.

"I have to say that I am impressed with the way you took over for James' Driver, well done indeed."

"Thank you sir."

The Fat Controller then walked off to speak with James' Driver. Sia looked back over to James, who winked happily to her. Sia smiled and winked right back at James.

James was of course sad when Sia had to go back to Tokyo with her friends and Thomas too, but before she was ready to go to the docks, she stopped by at the sheds to see James.

"Even though we had a rocky start to our friendship," she said, "I am glad that I got the chance to meet you James and get to know you as well. I will miss you and I promise to return someday."

"And after I said that," Sia paused before continuing, "I got up on James' bufferbeams and gave him a big hug, and I mean big."

Everyone chuckled quietly before Sia continued, "then I gave him a small kiss on the left side of his face, his face went as red as his paintwork. And that's my story of the time I spent with James."

"Sia," Rin piped up next, "do you often think about what James is doing right now?"

"Knowing James, he's probably grumbling about taking a goods train or is happily pulling a passenger train."

"I bet he misses having you as his Driver," Asa spoke up next.

"Well I miss driving him and talking with him too, I hope that we can return to Sodor someday or when he comes to the city..." at that point, the school bell rang and everyone headed off back to their classrooms.

During the rest of the day, even though she worked hard on all the assignments, Sia would think to herself of what she would say next time she and James met.

_**The End!**_


	12. Summertime Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 12**_

_**Summertime Engines**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_A brand new amusement park has opened up in the City of Tokyo, and from what I have heard, it is a big park. So big that it has it's own miniature railway, quite like the Small Railway on Sodor. The line itself runs with a grand total of four engines, three steamers and a diesel. The engines were pleased to tell me some interesting stories about what the 'amusement' park engines can do. I was quite impressed with these small engines and I hope you will be too._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-The Amusement Park

-Karen's Poor Attitude

-Big Strong Michelle

-Gary and the Tractor

_**The Amusement Park**_

A brand new amusement park was opening up in the city of Tokyo, and it's grand opening came at a good time as all the kids and teenagers started their summer vacation on the park's opening day.

On this warm summer's day, Asa, Kaede and Rin were visiting the park, they couldn't believe the size of it.

"It'll probably take us hours just to walk around this amusement park," said Rin.

A little voice chuckled somewhere behind them, "not if you ride with me."

Rin and the girls looked all around, but they couldn't find the owner of the voice. That was until Kaede looked down and much to her surprise, and to Rin and Asa as well, there was a little steam engine, it looked alot like Courtney's class of engines, the JNR C58.

"Where did you come from?" Asa asked.

The little engine smiled, "I've been here the entire time," she chuckled, "my main job is take you and some of the other visitors on a tour of our amusement park."

"Are you there more engines here?" Kaede asked.

"Oh yes, there's four of us in total. Two of us are based on two of JNR's engines, from what I heard though, many people have said that I look similar to an engine named Courtney, whoever that is."

"Courtney is the Little Tokyo Railroad's one and only japanese steam engine," said the little engine's Driver, "our manager was telling us last night remember?"

"Oh yeah," said the little engine as she blushed a small shade of red, then she looked back up to her three new friends, "what are your names?"

"I'm Kaede Fuyou."

"My name is Rin."

"And I'm Asa Shigure. Do you have a name?"

"Yep, my friends all call Kayio," just then, they heard a loud whistle blow, "uh oh, it's time for me to go, if you wish to ride with me, then you better get into my coaches."

Asa, Kaede and Rin walked over towards the coaches, they looked similar to the Union Pacific coaches used on the Little Tokyo Railroad, only with larger seats and no roof. Once they had taken their seats, the guard at the end of the train blew his whistle and Kayio puffed along with her train of passengers.

"How's the steam preasure?" Kayio asked her driver.

"Perfect once again," he smiled, "you're doing good girl!"

The passengers in Kayio's coaches enjoyed the ride as they travelled throughout the park. At the various different stops, passengers got off to explore the many attractions of the park. Kaede, Rin and Asa stayed onboard the train to see the sights and maybe see the other engines.

As they were passing the little kiddy rides area of the park, they spotted another small japanese engine, this one looked like a JNR D60 class engine.

"Hello Karen," called Kayio, "are you having a good time?"

"Why don't just take a look at my face," Karen snarled angerily, "I'm not having a good time. I've been taking little kids on rides all around the park, they bounce about so much that they nearly derailed my train."

"That will do Karen," said her Driver firmly, "now come on, we're needed back at the enterance."

Karen grunted in reply and puffed away down the line. Once she had passed, Kayio puffed away and called out to her friends, "That was Karen, she's a little rough around the edges and has a bit of a temper too, so be careful about what you say to her."

As they continued on through the park, they came across another little engine waiting at one of the passing tracks, this one looked like a Challenger locomotive, complete with the smoke deflectors.

"Howdy," the engine called to the passengers of Kayio's train, "my buds in the states all call me Michelle, love to stay and chit-chat, but I'm a little busy," and just like that, Michelle puffed away once the last coach of Kayio's train had cleared the points.

"She seems like a friendly engine," said Rin quietly.

"She reminds me of Li and Ken," added Asa.

Soon enough, they reached a little railyard. Kaede was the first to notice the fourth engine, "who is that?" she asked out loud.

"That's Gary," Kayio answered, "he's based on a 44 Tonner diesel engine from the original Canadian Pacific Railway. Also just to let you know, he's a mute."

"He can't talk?" Asa asked.

"Afraid so, but he doesn't mind just as long as he's useful."

"Why isn't he pulling a passenger train like you?" Rin asked.

"It's mostly because he's used on supply trains, when one of the game booths run low on prizes, he's sent to deliver more prizes. He's also used to take the workmen to a specific area of the park in case some of the rides have broken down."

As the train passed the yards, Kaede, Asa and Rin waved to Gary - he then responded back with a blow of his small horn.

Soon, the train was passing a road crossing that lead to a huge field.

"That's where the horse and tractor pulls will be held," said Kayio's Driver, "and it's also where we will hold our firework's show."

"Little piece of trash," growled a voice. Everyone looked to see an old tractor sitting nearby, he had a real snobby look on his face, "I don't know why they would have you running around here."

"We're needed to carry visitors around the park," Kayio replied back firmly.

"We could do the same thing you know!"

"Maybe so, but we are faster than you any day."

The tractor snarled crossly, but before he could say anymore, his driver moved him away. Kayio grunted crossly for a second, then she looked back to her friends, "don't mind that silly tractor, Darren's always like that."

Kaede, Asa and Rin watched as Darren the Tractor chugged off and still grumbling about the amusement park engines.

"Silly tractor," muttered Kayio's Driver.

During the second run around, Kaede, Asa and Rin got off at the games area of the amusement park, they thanked Kayio and her Driver for the ride and tour, then they waved until she was out of sight.

The two girls and Rin had a grand time playing the games, Asa won two teddy bears while Kaede won three.

Then they took another train to the rides area of the park. Rin went on some of the more 'thrilling' rides, and so did Asa.

"Are you coming Kaede?" Asa asked.

"I'm sorry but I can't," Kaede groaned as she looked at the 'thrilling' ride, "rides like this make me feel uneasy. I hope you two don't mind if I wait down here."

"We don't mind Kaede," Asa said kindly, "I can understand how you feel, it does look a little scary."

And so, Kaede waited until Rin and Asa had gotten off - when they did, they felt a little dizzy from all the loops, "you made the right choice not coming on," Rin said to Kaede while groaning, "there are too many loops on that ride."

Kaede only giggled quietly and waited till her friends got rid of the dizzy feeling, then they set off to ride some more rides.

Later that evening, they rode Kayio's train to the fields for the horse and tractor pulls. Darren was complaining again, mostly because of his old engine and of the Amusement Park Engines.

Despite the grumbling, the visitors enjoyed watching the horse and tractor pulls until they were done. Then the park went dark - then there came some whoosing sounds...

"Here we go," Kayio whispered quietly.

"This is going to be wonderful," smiled her Driver.

A few seconds later, fireworks lit up the night sky, some were small, while others were huge. Some were quiet, while others made a big booming noise - it was a wonderful sight.

"This is wonderful," smiled Asa, "what a way to celebrate the grand opening."

Kayio happily agreed to what Asa just said, "and so it begins," she said happily to herself.

Later that evening, Kaede, Rin, Asa and lots of other visitors rode with Kayio back to the main gate, where they said goodbye and thank you and promised to come back and tell their friends about the park and it's engines.

Which is what Kaede, Asa and Rin did as they told Primula, Sia, Nerine and Drew when they met up with each other that night.

"Well that explains quite a bit then," said Drew, "I remember seeing a few lorries with railway tracks, I've always wondered where they were going or what they were going to be used for - and now we know."

"Wait till Courtney hears there are a couple more japanese engines here in Tokyo," Nerine chuckled quietly, "She won't believe me when I tell her."

"I can't wait to meet the engines," said Primula quietly, "they sound nice."

"Well, except for that Karen," said Rin, "you'll have to take care of what you say in front of her."

"With an attitude like that," Drew cut in, "it's only a matter of time before she gets herself into trouble."

Oh boy was Drew was going to be proven right, but that will have to wait till the next story.

_**Karen's Poor Attitude**_

Early the next morning, the manager of the amusement park came up to the sheds to speak to his four little engines. Instead of calling him 'the manager of the park', the little engines all nicknamed 'The Park Controller' and so the name has stuck with him ever since.

"I was very pleased with all of you yesterday," the Park Controller smiled, "you all did a grand job of taking our visitors around the park and shunting our trucks and coaches, all the visitors said that we are a really useful railway. Let's keep that up, okay?"

"Yes sir," said the three engines, while Gary smiled a big smile in agreement.

"Most excellent," the Park Controller smiled, "now Kayio, Karen and Michelle, you are to take the passenger trains. Gary, you are on stand by work just in case."

Karen wanted to speak up, but she couldn't as the Park Controller walked away.

"I don't want to take passengers today," she grumbled, "I prefer to take goods trains instead."

"Here we go again," Kayio whispered to Michelle, the three other engines have heard Karen complaining many times before, "she's never satisfied unless she's doing what she wants."

Michelle silently agreed with Kayio. Karen had overheard them, and as you guess, it didn't help to improve her temper.

"I don't mind pulling passengers for your information," she snapped, "I just don't like it when the children are bouncing about in the seats, they gave me a headache and worse still, they might make me crash off the tracks - on purpose too!"

"They do not," Michelle snapped firmly, "those kids just want to have fun while they visit our park."

"Too true," agreed Kayio, "it's not like we're running a military camp here. This is a place to have fun."

"They can fun when they're off my train," Karen sniffed as she was brought of the shed by her Driver, "I'll teach them to never fool around with trains."

Once Karen was out of the yards, Kayio spoke up again.

"I'll bet you that she'll cause an accident while trying to do that."

Even Gary had to agree with the two miniature steam engines.

Karen soon arrived at the yards to collect her coaches. Because of her poor attitude and the lack of focus, she backed up too far and bumped her coaches hard.

"Ow!" the coaches cried, "be careful Karen!"

Karen didn't even say sorry as she was backed onto the coaches, thanks to her Driver of course. Then once the coaches were coupled up, Karen puffed away to the enterance of the park.

The Driver found it hard to keep her in control, "slow it down Karen!"

"Never," she sniffed crossly.

Darren the Tractor was working by the field, he sniggered when he saw Karen's sour expression, "oh what's the matter little puffer, feeling old? Take me advice and find yourself a scrap pile."

"Shut up you baka!" Karen snapped and puffed crossly away from Darren and the field.

Karen and her train soon pulled up to the gate. Once she was past the points, she was switched over to the enterance line and that's when she got a huge shock - for there were lots of children waiting there.

"Oh no!" Karen groaned loudly.

"Oh wow!" gasped her Driver, "there's more here than yesterday, and even more visitors coming in from what I can see," he looked to the back of the line of children and noticed a lot of visitors, there were indeed more than yesterday.

Karen's Driver got out his walky-talky and turned it on, "Sir, this is Karen's Driver, you might need to add a few more coaches to Kayio and Michelle's trains, cause I'm seeing lots of visitors at the gate, and I mean lots, even more than yesterday."

"Thank you for informing me Driver," came the reply, "I'll inform the engines and their crews right away."

"Okay then sir," said the Driver, then he shut it off and put it back in it's holder.

Karen was whispering quietly to herself, "oh please don't let it be the children today, oh please don't let it be the children today," she kept saying.

She was disappointed though when she saw the children boarding her train.

"I can't wait to have some fun," said one of the young kids.

"Me neither," said another kid.

Karen heard them - she then spoke up firmly, "alright you little bakas," she snapped crossly, "you better behave yourselves, or I will stop this train and your day of fun comes to an end, understand?"

Luckily though, the children heard none of Karen's rude words, only her Driver did. He looked back to see the kids still looking happy and eager to have some fun.

The Driver spoke to her severaly, "you shouldn't say things like that, especially not to children," he warned her, "if you do, then they might not want to come back, and that's not good for business."

Karen was still cross, "I'll show them if they start acting up." The guard's whistle blew and Karen puffed away with her train.

At first, the journey went well - that was until Karen heard the children cheering, "I knew it," she snapped crossly, "they're up to no good, that's it!"

She then snapped on her brakes and came to a stop.

"Karen!" cried her Driver, "What are you doing, we need to keep moving!"

"No," she snapped, "I will not move until those children calm down!"

But the children didn't calm down, they cheered even more, "thank you for bringing us to the games," they said happily, "you are a sweet engine."

They then climbed out of the coaches and walked over to play some of the games, their parents came out to join them, they were pleased too.

"Oh no," Karen groaned, "my plan backfired on me!"

"Ah well," said her Driver, "at least you made the children happy, now come on - let's go!"

And so, Karen let go of her brakes - that was a big mistake! For the moment she did, she took off like a rocket down the tracks. Her Driver held on as best as he could while Karen flew down the tracks.

"Stop me please!" she cried.

Karen's Driver tried to stop her, but found that he couldn't, her brakes were now broken.

"Stop! Stop!" Karen cried to her Driver.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" he shouted and tried to screw the brakes on even harder, but to no avail. Worst still, Karen was reaching a sharp curve - most trains have to take care on the curve, meaning that they have to slow down.

Since Karen couldn't slow down, she was heading for disaster. Her Driver saw this and tried to apply the brakes once more. When they didn't work, he made a daring jump.

"OH NO!" cried Karen and shut her eyes.

She bounced off the sharp curve and rolled on dangerous down the sidewalk for a few miles before she finally came to a stop.

Her Driver wasn't badly hurt, he only had a few cuts here and there, as for Karen, she stood quite a distance from the tracks.

"The Park Controller isn't going to be happy when he hears about this," groaned Karen's Driver as he pulled out the walky talky. He then informed the Park Controller about the accident and about Karen's attitude.

"Leave her there," came the reply, "our three other engines can handle the passenger trains alone. I'll send Darren to collect her later."

"Understood sir," said the Driver as he walked over to Karen. He looked sternly at his little engine, "you are very naughty," he said firmly, "the Park Controller will have a little talk with you later."

Karen only grunted under her breath, but she didn't say a single word - somehow it didn't seem very tactful.

The Park Controller was quite right about the other engines handling the work, they did a grand job and the visitors once again said, "thank you for the grand time today, we'll be sure to come back soon."

At the end of the day, Darren towed Karen back to the tracks, he teased her none stop until she was back on the tracks. Gary then came to tow Karen to the sheds.

When they arrived, they found the Park Controller waiting up for them.

"Well done Gary, you can go have a rest," he smiled. Once the little diesel was out of sight, the Park Controller looked over to Karen with a stern look, "you're lucky that no one was on your train when you ran off, and you're also lucky that our visitors had a good time today, and that's including the children that were riding with you."

"Speaking of those children..."

"Not another word Karen, your driver told me everything earlier. I am _not_ impressed with your behaviour today. If you don't start behaving, then I'll take you out of service on the park railway and have you put on one of those loopy roller coaster rides."

After hearing that, Karen promised to behave, then she remained quiet throughout the rest of the evening. As for Kayio and Michelle, they felt it was best to mention the accident again, just to make sure Karen doesn't blow her temper off again.

_**Big Strong Michelle**_

Michelle the Challenger Engine is the only articulated steam locomotive of the Amusement Park Railway's fleet, but she doesn't mind that, she's proud to part of a team and she is proud of what she is. She was painted in jet black paint, wore the number '3964' under the window of her small cab and had a big tender. She also came with four front wheels, two pairs of six driving wheels and four back wheels behind her driving wheels.

Like many of the original articulated locomotives that came before her, she was designed for fast goods or passenger trains and what was best about being a challenger was that she could take about two and a half trains in one go.

Of course, that's what she had to do for quite a while considering Karen's attitude. The Park Controller was still not impressed with her attitude, so she was assigned to work in the yards.

"It's degrading," she snarled crossly, "being made to shunt in the yards, it's stupid!"

"I don't think it's stupid," said Michelle as her Driver was filling her tender with water, "I think it makes a nice change."

"Says the engine who can take two trains in one," Karen sniffed, "just watch out for the children..."

Karen went silent when she saw the Park Controller come into the yards, she went off back to work, muttering under her breath.

The Park Controller talked with Michelle's Driver for a bit, then he went off to speak with some of the visitors who have just arrived.

"Excuse me dear driver of mine," Michelle spoke up after a while, "but what were you and the Park Controller talking about?"

"He was just telling me that we're going to need more coaches for our train today, he saw lots of people at the gate - and I do mean _lots_! You know something though, if this keeps up, then the workshops might have to build us another engine."

"Wow!" Michelle gasped, "we are becoming quite popular aren't we?"

"We sure are, now come on girl, let's go get those coaches."

Once she had steam up, Michelle was taken over to the coach yards. She was soon coupled to her coaches, a grand total of sixteen. The normal amount for any amusement park engine is eight, but not today.

"It's a good thing you were chosen to take this long train," said the Driver, "Kayio and Gary would never be able to take the strain."

Once she was coupled up to her long train, she puffed off to the enterance of the park.

As the Park Controller had said, there were indeed lots of people at the gate, which also included Sia, Drew and Nerine, they wanted to see the engines for themselves - and to see the park too.

"How are we going to do this?" Michelle asked, "I don't think the siding is long enough for our long train."

"We'll be okay," her Driver answered, "it just means we'll be holding up the main line until the passengers are on board."

The train was soon past the points, the guard got out to change the points, then the Driver moved Michelle and her train into the siding. The guard kept an eye on the tail end as they reached the end of the siding.

"Okay now, slow the train down...now stop!" the guard called threw the walky talky.

The Driver applied Michelle's brakes and brought the train to a smooth stop. Before long, the passengers were climbing into the coaches, all except for Drew, Sia and Nerine, they were at the front of the train and taking a good look at Michelle.

"She looks so close to the original challenger engines," said Drew, "perfect to the last detail."

"Yeah that's what the people who build me said," Michelle smiled happily, "they said I looked like a Union Pacific challenger engine, well - except for the railroad name on the side of my tender."

On Michelle's tender, instead of the words 'Union Pacific', it was 'Amusement Park Railway'.

"Still though, you are an interesting engine," Drew said kindly, Michelle blushed kindly.

"Are there any other challenger engines in the states?" Sia asked.

"Yep, there's still a few left. There's No. 3977, she's sitting alone at a park, while No. 3985 runs for the Union Pacific Steam Program..."

"Excuse me you two," said Nerine, "I hate to interupte you here, but we should get on board before all the seats are taken."

Sia and Drew looked back to the coaches and saw that Nerine was right. They walked over to the coaches, just in time to catch the last few seats in the ninth coach."

The guard blew his whistle, the Driver opened the regulator and Michelle started off.

"Oh boy!" she groaned as she felt the strain on her knuckle coupling, "there certainly are a lot more passengers today than ever!"

"Well take it easy okay?" her Driver advised, "the last thing we need for you to break down, then the Park Controller will have no one to take your place."

"Don't worry about me," Michelle said with encouragment, "you just worry about keeping us at the right speed, and watch out for those tight curves."

"Right you are," the Driver smiled as he did his job.

Even with the long passenger train, Michelle puffed all over the park, dropping visitors off at their stops and picking up new ones as they went along. When it came to meeting up with other trains, she got the 'right of way' while the other trains waited in the sidings.

"Well done Michelle!" called Kayio, "you're doing a good job!"

Gary responded with a blow of his horn to encourage the challenger engine on as she passed.

Then as she came around the first tight curve, she noticed some people taking pictures of her - they took quite a lot.

"I thought they would want to take pictures of the rides and attractions at the park instead of me," she thought to herself as she made her way around the curve.

"Well maybe those people are railfans," said her Driver, "maybe that's why they're taking your picture. I mean, it's not everyday that a person gets to see a challenger engine in operation, even a minitature amusement park engine."

"I guess so, you could be right."

She was soon past the curve and was on her way to the next stop of the amusement park.

"So what do you two think?" Drew asked the two princesses.

"I like this park, it's just as wonderful as Kaede and Rin have said," Sia smiled, "And I really like the amusement park engines, especially Michelle."

Michelle heard those kind words and couldn't help but blush and smile broadly.

"They really like me, they really like me," Michelle thought happily to herself.

She was so happy that she didn't notice Karen's sour face at all, "she's such a show off," Karen grumbled quietly to herself.

Luckily though that no one heard Karen's rude remark, mostly because of Michelle - she was making too much noise. It was better that no one _did_ hear what Karen said, cause it didn't sound polite.

They were soon passing another curve and that's when Michelle could show off what an articulated engine can do. While her wheels followed the rails, her boiler went another way until her second pair of driving wheels went onto the curve. All articulated engines come with big boilers so all engines, like the challengers, have a special pin in between the two sets of driving wheels, which means that the big engine can go around curves without any trouble.

In this way, an articulated engine isn't restricted to one line alone and can be used anywhere.

At the end of the day, the passengers all came out to thank Michelle for the splendid ride and promised to come back. The visitors even took lots of pictures of Michelle, she didn't know which why to look at times.

Once the park was closed up for the night, Michelle puffed off for the yards with her train.

"Today has been a good day hasn't it?" she asked her Driver.

"It sure has," he smiled, "you have done a good job today Michelle. I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you very much Driver," Michelle smiled.

Once she dropped her coaches off at the coach yards, she puffed off to the sheds to find Kayio and Gary waiting with happy expressions on their faces, while Karen just looked away with a frown on her face.

"Shunting duties," Karen muttered quietly, "I still can't believe I had to do those kinds of jobs."

Of course, nobody really payed any attention to Karen, instead - they were paying their attention to Michelle.

At that moment, the Park Controller came up to the sheds, he was smiling too.

"What's going on here?" Michelle asked, "why are you all smiling at me?"

"Isn't it obvious to see?" Kayio asked happily, "you broke a record Michelle."

"It's true," added the Park Controller, "some people from the book of World records came by today to see if the rumors of an amusement park engine pulling over fifteen coaches was true - and today Michelle, you proved that rumor to be true. The most amount that a small engine about your size can pull is nine coaches..."

"I...I really broke a record?" Michelle asked in surprise.

"So that's why those men were taking so many pictures of you," smiled her Driver, then he added, "I said it once tonight and I'm saying it again - I'm very proud of you Michelle, well done and congratulations."

This was met by a chrous of cheers from the park workers, the Park Controller and the two other engines, Karen didn't make a single peep.

"Thank you, thank you all," Michelle smiled proudly, "I never thought I would set a record for anything, but I guess anything is possible, even when I'm just doing my job."

_**Gary and the Tractor**_

Gary is the only diesel engine of the fleet and the only one of the batch that is mute. Despite this, he often proves to the other engines and even that miserable old tractor Darren that he's just as useful as any of the other engines. He gets along very nicely with the other engines and the visitors who come to the park.

He is often seen on maintence work or supply trains, but he can pull passenger trains whenever he is needed.

One day, Darren the tractor was chugging past the little engine's yard, he only scoffed at them, "I'm surprised you little buggers are still in surface, when is that manager going to learn that he needs tractors like me instead of small shrimps like you lot?"

"We are not shrimps," Karen snapped crossly and was about to speak her mind when Kayio interupted.

"We're just as useful as you Darren, we've been telling you that ever since the park opened, and we have proven it to you as well."

"Oh really?" the tractor chuckled rudely, "like when that silly engine Karen went flying off the tracks just because she didn't want to take children on a ride around the park? If that's your way of being useful, then I have a strong feeling that this will be your _last_ season here."

"No it won't," Karen snapped back, "it'll be _your_ last season here, just listen to the sound of your engine."

This started an argument between Karen and Darren, Gary only rolled his eyes and tried hard not to listen in. In the end, the Park Controller and Darren's operator had to come and stop the argument.

"You're wasting your time with these silly engines," Darren called to the Park Controller, "people won't want to ride on them forever."

And he chugged away, thinking he had made his point. The Park Controller groaned and muttered his breath, "Stupid tractor, I don't know why he's here."

"What was that, sir?" Michelle asked.

"Nothing," he said as he looked down to his little engines, "it's nothing at all."

He then gave out the jobs to the engines and went off back to his office. Karen was quite pleased to be allowed to pull passenger trains again and so was Michelle.

"Just take care out there," the small challenger engine advised and ignore Darren if you meet up with him again."

But Karen wouldn't listen to Michelle and puffed away once her Driver pulled the lever.

A little later, Darren was doing some light runs around the Amusement park, he was still thinking about his little 'conversation' with the engines, "poor little things," he chuckled, "they just can't except the fact that we roadway vehicles are the best modes of transportation. We are much stronger than they are and we can go anywhere we want too, unlike them - they have to stick to their silly rails."

Darren was so busy thinking of ways to insult the Amusement Park engines when he next saw them that he hadn't noticed the spluttering sounds from his engine, but his operator had.

"I better stop him and have a good look at the engine," he thought to himself.

And so he did, he brought Darren to a stop - right on the Amusement Park Railway's tracks, but he hadn't really noticed as he got down to inspect the engine.

"It won't take me long boy."

"That's okay," Darren snickered, "take as much time as you need."

His operator was slightly confused as to what Darren was snickering about, but his thoughts were put to a side as he checked the engine.

In a couple of minutes, the operator heard a loud whistle coming their way. He looked to the other side of Darren and noticed Karen coming along with a train full of children.

"Oh no," the operator cried and jumped up to the controls. He had completely forgotten that he had taken out Darren's spark plugs and had dropped them on the ground, which had now rolled off into a sewer drain some distance from the tracks.

Anyways, the operator tried to turn on the engine, but Darren's engine wouldn't start and worse still, Karen was getting closer and closer.

Her Driver quickly applied the brakes and Karen went into a screeching stop. She rolled on down the tracks until she stopped with a few inches to spare from Darren's side.

"Get off my line you stupid tractor!" Karen snapped crossly, "we can't have our timetable fall behind."

"Too bad for you," the tractor snickered, "I'm not going anywhere until I feel like it."

Of course he knew the _real_ reason why he wasn't moving away, but he decided it to use this little _mistake_ to annoy Karen.

"This is stupid," snapped Karen's Driver, "move your silly tractor off the tracks!"

"Sorry but I can't," called Darren's operator.

Karen went red in the face, "oh my gosh, his operator is just as bad as his silly old tractor. Look buddy, if you don't move your silly tractor out of the way, then I will push him off myself."

"Go ahead and try," snickered Darren, "you won't succeed."

"We'll see about that!"

So Karen's driver uncoupled the little engine, then he drove her up to the tractor. Karen then pushed and puffed, puffed and pushed, but Darren didn't move an inch.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to move me, you silly little engines aren't strong enough, you should give the people their money back."

Karen got redder in the face and grew crosser and crosser with Darren and once again, that started an argument between the two.

When the Park Controller had been informed of the situation, he went to the yards to speak to Gary, "I need you and your Driver to go down the line and help move Darren off the tracks, he's blocking the tracks for our passenger trains."

Gary responded with a wink, then his driver moved him out of the yards and out to the open main line.

By now, lots of people and the amusement park engines were arguing with Darren, but he would not move.

"What is your problem?" cried Karen's Driver to the operator, "Do you hate our engines like your silly tractor does?"

"Not at all," said the operator, "truth be told, I don't know why he won't move..."

It was then that they heard a diesel horn, and before long, Gary came up to the rescue. His Driver got out and inspected the engine, "there's your problem, the spark plugs are gone!"

Darren's operator slapped his forehead, "well it's no wonder why he wouldn't move!"

"So where are those spark plugs?"

"I...don't know."

They had no time to look for the spark plugs, the trains were being held up and that included Kayio and Michelle's trains. Gary looked over to his Driver and then to his engine, "good thinking old boy," he smiled, then he looked to the operator, "you can use Gary's spark plugs, then you can move your tractor out of the way."

"Forget it," Darren snapped crossly, "I don't want spark plugs from a useless machine!"

"Too bad," said his operator, "it's either you take them, or we will have to give everyone their money back for not providing a reliable service."

Darren knew his operator was right, but he still grumbled about it. Gary's Driver moved the diesel shunter out of the way into a siding, then after shutting off the engine, he opened up the panal and removed his spark plugs.

"We'll get you home somehow old boy," said the Driver kindly, "don't you worry."

Gary looked at him with a happy look as if to say, "I'm not worried," then he gave another look which meant, "get that beast off the tracks."

Which is what Gary's Driver did, with the help of Darren's operator, they attached the spark plugs to the engine and moved Darren away.

The passengers in the coaches cheered loudly and all waved to Gary to say 'thank you'. The trains started off once more, they blew their whistles to thank Gary as well.

"I'll come back for you tonight!" Kayio called to Gary.

Gary winked at his friend and watched as the trains left and watched as Darren was taken away back to his garage.

Gary had to stay in that siding all day long. When one of the other passenger trains puffed on past him, the Drivers would say, "there's the engine that helped move that silly tractor out of the way," and the passengers would cheer for Gary.

It was nightfall by the time Kayio arrived to take Gary back to the sheds. The Park Controller was waiting for them, "Gary, I am proud to you today. Thanks to you, our trains ran to perfect time and our visitors had a wonderful time."

"They even said that you are a clever engine too," said Michelle.

"Even I have to admit that you did a good job," said Karen, "and you sure shut Darren up, I don't think he'll be bugging us for a long time."

"It's also thanks to you and the other engines," the Park Controller continued, "that our visitors are having a good time and promise to come back and promise to bring their friends in the near future, what do you think of that?"

The answer was simple, the engines and their crews cheered with delight, they were pleased and happy with this news.

_**The End!**_


	13. Mayumi and the New Japanese Engine

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 13**_

_**Mayumi and the New Japanese Engine**_

_**Based on the Original "Hurtful Engines" 2009 Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_The Thin Controller of the Skarloey Railway has recently gotten a new engine in his fleet of engines and would you believe it was built in Tokyo? Well it's quite true. This new engine is based on a JNR Class C11 2-6-4 engine, only made as a narrow gauge engine with buffers and chain couplins instead of the knuckle couplings that Courtney, Kayio and Karen. I'm sorry to say though that not all the engines were happy with the new arrival, but thanks to another one of Thomas' friends from Tokyo and of course the new engine, those engines soon warmed up to the new arrival and now all are friends. These stories tell you of what happened._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Fire Trouble

-Lineside Fires

-Mayumi and the Camels

-Sir Handel Takes a Dip

_**Fire Trouble**_

The Thin Controller of the Skarloey Railway was visiting the city of Tokyo on a beautiful July morning. He was visiting the warehouse district where his brand new engine was being built. He read so much about the japanese engines in the books and was impressed by their strength, design and power, then shortly after hearing from the Fat Controller about the Little Tokyo Railway, he went to Tokyo to see if they could build an engine for him.

The people at the shops were more than willing to build an engine for him, but they wanted to know which class of engine he would like. He chose the JNR C11 class tank engine.

Once that was confirmed, Ichigo Ryu, the person in charge of the project, began making plans on how to build this engine. A new boiler was made in the United states, while the other parts were made either in Japan or in England.

By the time the Thin Controller made his visit to Tokyo in July, the engine was just about ready. It only needed several more parts before it was ready to go, and not forgetting the fact it also needed a name.

"Have you thought a name for this engine?" asked Ichigo Ryu to the Thin Controller.

"No, I have not come up with a name for this engine," he answered.

One day, Courtney arrived at the shops with a goods train, this was the first time she got to see the new engine.

"Another japanese engine," she smiled, "a little small I'll admit."

"That's because I'm a narrow gauge engine," said the little engine on the flatbed, "I was designed for the Skarloey Railway on Sodor."

"Sodor huh? Interesting, I've heard about that place from my friends and of course two of the engines from the railway," then she introduced herself, "my name is Courtney, I'm the Little Tokyo Railway's only japanese engine, what's your name?"

"I'm...I'm...I don't have a name," sighed the little engine unhappily, "nobody knows what to call me. How did you get your name?"

"I don't know how I got my name, I think the Man in the Suit just gave me the name, just like he gave Li and Ken their names when they arrived."

At that moment, Masuko the Shop's crane came over to unload some trucks, Courtney explained about what they were talking about.

"How did you get your name anyways?" Courtney asked.

"My boss gave me the name 'Masuko' shortly after his son won a kendo tourtement, he said I looked like a champion like his son. He even told me that himself when I was given the name."

It was then that Ichigo Ryu returned to do some more work on the little engine.

"Just a bit more work my little engine," she said, "don't you worry, we'll soon have you in operation on the Skarloey Railway before you know it."

"I hope so," said the little engine, "and maybe I'll go with a name."

"Don't worry, we'll think of a name for you," Ichigo Ryu chuckled and went back to work.

Masuko also went back to work unloading Courtney's trucks. Once unloaded, Courtney puffed out of the shops, "I hope to see you around soon before you leave, until then - take care my little friend."

"Thank you," said the little engine and went back to being quiet again.

At last, a couple of day later, the little engine was finally ready to be steamed up for the first time. In order to test her out and make sure everything was running perfectly, the workers had layed out some narrow gauge tracks inside the shops, it was then Masuko and an over head crane's job, named Nayuki, to lift the little engine onto the tracks carefully.

On this day, the Thin Controller and Ichigo Ryu stood close by as the cranes did their job.

"Nice and easy now Nayuki," said Masuko, "the last thing we need is to drop the little engine."

"Don't you worry Masuko," called Nayuki, "I'll be careful."

Slowly but surely, the two cranes moved the little engine to it's tracks and lowered it safely to the rails. Ichigo Ryu was given the grand honors of lighting the fire.

She grabbed hold of an oily rag, then a match and lit it.

What Ichigo Ryu didn't know was that the rag had soaked with too much lighter fluid, but she was due to find that out - the hard way!

The moment she lit it, it burst into flames, engulfing her hands in fire, "ow, ow!" cried Ichigo Ryu as she threw the rag down to the floor, but her problems were far from over - some of the lighter fluid had spilled onto her uniform and now she was on fire!

"Help me!" she cried out loud.

She rolled around on the ground in hopes of beating out the flames, but it did no good - as there was more lighter fluid on the ground, which only engulfed the poor women in more flames.

Luckily for her, Masuko's operator had got hold of the special blanket that sat in the cab and was now using it to help put the fire out.

After a terrifying minute and a half, the fire was finally out, but the damage had been done.

"We need to get her to a hospital," cried Masuko's operator.

Which is of course what the shop owner had done, he was on the phone with the ambulance, who soon arrived to take her to the hospital.

"Please be okay," the little engine whispered quietly.

It was another couple of days before the news came in about Ichigo Ryu, "she's okay," said Nerine, who had been visiting the hospital earlier that morning, "she should be ready to come back to work in a few days. She's asked if someone else could start the little engine's fire without her."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Masuko's operator.

"I'm quite sure, she told me to tell you all that."

And so, that's just what they did - the shop owner was given the chance to light the fire, and this time the fire was lit perfectly. The tests were then performed, the Thin Controller was indeed impressed by what this little engine.

"You're just the type of engine we need on the Skarloey Railway," he said happily to the little engine, "I am indeed impressed with you."

"Thank you sir," said the little engine.

The Thin Controller then shook hands with the shop owner and then asked Nerine if she could tell Ms. Ichigo Ryu that he is pleased with the work she and her crew have done.

Two days later, the little engine was lifted onto a flatbed and was taken to the dockyards by Li the American Tank Engine.

At the dockyards, Mayumi and her family were getting ready to board the ship bound for Sodor, she had heard many great stories from Thomas, Percy and their friends that she wanted to see Sodor for herself.

"This is going to be great," she smiled.

As she was boarding the ship, she saw Li coming into the dockyards with the little engine on the flatbed, "good luck and good running," Li said cheerfully to the little engine.

"Thank you dear engine."

Once Li was uncoupled, he puffed away to collect some more trucks. Just as he disappeared out of sight, then the little engine got a wonderful surprise, there was Ichigo Ryu, coming over to see the little engine. She was of course in a wheelchair, she had been burnt badly by the fire, but she was still smiling.

"After so much work," Ichigo Ryu smiled, "there is no greater joy than to see the engine I helped to build being prepared for it's grand trip."

Even the Man in the Suit, who had pushed the wheelchair over to the little engine's flatbed, had to agree with Ichigo Ryu.

"I am very proud of you young engine," Ichigo Ryu continued, "which is why today, before you go to the Skarloey Railway - I am going to give you your name."

"My name?" the little engine asked in surprise.

"Yes, I have decided to call you 'Ichigo'. Believe me young engine, I'm not the first person to name the engine they built after themselves. So what do you say, would you like the name?"

"Oh ma'am, yes ma'am, I would be honored to have your name."

Ichigo Ryu smiled, "very well then, before you go, the Man in the Suit's workers will install the nameplates on you, it won't take too long," she added, giving a wink with her right eye.

Within minutes, the little engine had it's new nameplates on, which read 'Ichigo'. The nameplate shone like gold in the sunshine, just like her Skarloey Railway 'Red' paint.

"Do I look grand?" Ichigo the engine asked.

"You look fantastic," smiled Ichigo Ryu, "good luck my little engine, I'll come by to Sodor sometimes, once I recover from the accident."

Ichigo the engine smiled as workers attached cables to her, then she was lifted off the flatbed by Rick the Crane, who grumbled terribily, "Why do I _always_ have to lift the engines?"

Nobody really payed any attention to Rick, like always!

Soon enough, Ichigo was lowered safely inside the hall of the ship and tied down properly. The ship sounded it's horn, then it pulled away from the docks, with both the Man in the Suit and Ichigo Ryu waving till it was out of sight.

Ichigo the engine went off happily to sleep, dreaming about what her new home was going to be like.

**Author's Note:**

Ichigo Ryu's accident was based on a real life event that occured to a skateboarder after his friends soaked his clothes in too much lighter fluid, why he wanted to light himself on fire is because he wanted to be a stuntman. The man burned himself badly, but survived and has since promised to never attempt that stunt again, when and where it happened is unknown.

_**Lineside Fires**_

A few days after she left the city of Tokyo, Ichigo the Narrow Gauge Engine finally arrived on Sodor. Cranky lifted her slowly out of the boat and onto a flatbed that was to be towed by Henry the Green Engine. At this time, Mayumi and her family were just getting off the boat themselves.

"Kaede wasn't kidding when she said that this dockyard is bigger than the dockyards of the Little Tokyo Railroad," Mayumi thought happily to herself, "this is going to be a great trip."

As for Ichigo, she was soon tied down to the flatbed and was taken off to the transfer yards.

"Tell me young engine," said Henry, "where did you come from?"

"I came from Tokyo Japan," she answered, "that's where I was build and named too. I'm properly the only japanese narrow gauge engine in operation."

"Really?" Henry asked with interest, "just do me a favour and don't say something like that in front of Sir Handel, Duncan or Ivo Hugh, they don't like it when new comers boast about how special _they_ are. So remember to take care around them."

"I'll try my best."

It wasn't long before they arrived at the Skarloey Railway Transfer yards, Ichigo was carefully unloaded from the flatbed - just as the Thin Controller and Mr. Hugh arrived. They thanked Henry, then waved to him and his crew as he puffed away.

"It's good to see you dear engine," smiled the Thin Controller, then he noticed the new nameplates, "I see you were given a name before you came here."

"Yes indeed sir," smiled Ichigo, "Ms. Ichigo Ryu gave me my name just before I was lifted onto the boat."

"I see," he smiled, "now Ichigo, I would like to introduce you to Mr. Hugh, he's our cheif engineer. He's going to take you back to the sheds, you can get the chance to meet the engines of our fleet before your first job."

"Yes sir."

Mr. Hugh climbed into the cab, carefully lit the fire, then drove Ichigo back to the sheds. She had a lovely time, she thought the line was beautiful, "I can't wait to get started with work."

The same couldn't be said about Sir Handel, who was grumbling in the sheds, "I'm overworked," he grumbled, "the Thin Controller is giving me far too many jobs - when is that new engine going to arrive?"

"Soon Sir Handel," sighed Peter Sam, "The new engine will be here soon."

"Sooner than you think," said Skarloey, "I can see it coming to our sheds now."

The engines looked to see the little japanese engine backing up towards their shed. Sir Handel gave it a queer look, but Peter Sam and Skarloey looked on - interested.

"Skarloey, Sir Handel, Peter Sam," said Mr. Hugh, "this is Ichigo, she is our newest engine."

"Hello there," she said sweetily, "it's such an honor to meet you all."

Sir Handel didn't say anything, he only stared at Ichigo with the same queer look he's had since he saw her, "I don't trust this engine," he thought only to himself.

"Welcome Ichigo," said Skarloey kindly, "to the Skarloey Railway. I'm Skarloey, the engines next to you are Peter Sam and Sir Handel."

"Hello Ichigo," smiled Peter Sam.

Sir Handel muttered a small, "hello," but very quietly.

"Well I better get going," said Mr. Hugh, "I need to go find Rusty and get back to work on track maintenance. Your crew will come by to get you in a few minutes Ichigo."

With that said, Mr. Hugh set off to find Rusty waiting near the yards.

Ichigo took the time to talk with Skarloey and Peter Sam, while Sir Handel remained quiet. They talked about the railway until Ichigo's new crew arrived, they introduced themselves to Ichigo, then they took her away from the sheds.

"Toot-toot," she whistled, "see you all later!"

Skarloey and Peter Sam were impressed with Ichigo, "I think she'll fit in just fine," smiled Peter Sam.

The crew took Ichigo over the coaling stage and that's where she met up with Duncan and Ivo Hugh. Remembering what Henry said, she didn't boast about where she came from.

"Hello there," she said, "my name is Ichigo, I'm your new engine."

"Oh are you?" Duncan asked curiously while raising an eyebrow.

"Yes - is there something wrong with me being here?"

"It's nothing really," said Ivo Hugh, "it's just that you are the first girl engine our line has ever seen..."

"And what's the problem with that?" asked a voice. The three engines jumped when they heard that voice, they hadn't heard him come up to the coaling stage. It was Duke, the original engine that was named after the Duke of Sodor.

"Nothing's wrong Duke," said Ivo Hugh, "I'm just saying that this is the first time we've ever had a female engine on our line. I think it's about time too."

Ichigo smiled when she heard Ivo Hugh say that, then she looked over to Duncan. He was looking away with the same look that Sir Handel had earlier. She couldn't understand why they were looking at her like that, but she didn't have time to find out - mostly because she was needed at the station.

Ichigo was soon brought over to the coach yards where the old coaches were waiting.

"Don't you dare bump us," shouted Agnes the old coach, "or we'll pay you out."

"Please don't," Ichigo begged quietly. She backed up slowly towards the coaches and buffered up to them, nice and smoothily. The coaches were impressed with this little engine.

Ichigo's fireman got down and coupled her up to the coaches.

"Alright Ichigo," said the Driver, "let's get going."

"As you wish sir," smiled Ichigo and puffed away as soon as her fireman had climbed back into the cab.

She soon arrived at the station where all the passengers were waiting for her, they were very interested in her appearance, "would you like at this?" they said, "it's like one of those japanese tank engines, truely amazing."

Ichigo felt honored when she heard that.

After five minutes, the guard's whistle blew and Ichigo puffed slowly out of the station.

They made good timing as they puffed along, they stopped at all the right stations and puffed along as smoothly and carefully as they could, "who knows," said the Driver, "we just might make it to the next station with time to spare."

"Who knows," smiled the fireman.

But they were soon to be proven wrong...

Over the last few days, Sodor had a heat wave, it dried up the grass along the tracks. Today, the wind was blowing as the weather cooled down a bit.

As Ichigo passed by a long strecth of track that was surronded by grassy fields, the wind blew hard aganist her, blowing her smoke towards the field.

After a few seconds, the fireman said, "can you smell something burning?"

"Yes, the coal in Ichigo's firebox," he answered.

"I wasn't talking about Ichigo's firebox," said the fireman crossly, "I was talking about something else..." he then looked out the cab and gasped, "oh good glory!" he cried, "it's the field, the ashes from the funnel must've been blown over there!"

The Driver looked too and gasped, he applied the brakes carefully and brought the train to a smooth stop. Then he and the fireman went to the field to put the fire out. They stumped down on the smoking patches of grass. Some of the passengers got out to help too until all the small fires were put out.

Once the fire was put out, Ichigo continued on her way to the station. They arrived five minutes behind the timetable.

The Thin Controller didn't blame Ichigo for what happened, "it could've happened to any of our engines," he said kindly to Ichigo, "so there's no reason for me to be mad at you."

"Thank you sir," said Ichigo quietly.

At the sheds that night, Ichigo was quiet, she didn't feel like talking, "at least when Sir Handel lost his firebars," said Duncan cheekily, "at least he didn't set the line on fire, unlike Ichigo."

"I knew she would blow it," Sir Handel grunted quietly.

"That's enough of that!" snapped Peter Sam, "the incident today was not Ichigo's fault."

"At least she didn't try setting the whole field up in flames on purpose," said Rheneas firmly.

Sir Handel and Duncan simply ignored Rheneas and Peter Sam and continued talking about engines and the fire troubles they had. Ichigo could hear them, and trying hard not to show it - she shedded small tears from her eyes. It's no fun being teased, wouldn't you agree with me?

**Author's Note:**

Ichigo's lineside fire was based on the few incidents that occured to the Challenger 3985 when it was returned to service. When it was a coal burner in the 1980's, she passed by a grassy field. The wind blew her ashes towards the field and nearly set the grass abaze, that was until Union Pacific employees and railfans put the fires out.

_**Mayumi and the Camels**_

Mayumi was enjoying her trip to Sodor, she thought the many sights were impressive. She loved visiting them all, but she really loved the farms up in the high hills near to where the Skarloey Railway passes. She couldn't explain why, but she thought the farms were the best sights she had ever seen.

"It's so wonderful," she thought to herself and sighed happily.

One farm she liked visiting was the horse farm up in the hills, she loved watching the farmer and his wife taking care of their horses and allowing them to have a good run through the field they had in their front yard.

"Good morning," they would always shout to anyone who passed.

People usually waved back to them, and that was the same with Mayumi, she waved happily to the farmers and to the horses.

"I've always loved horses," she thought happily to herself, "even when I was a little girl."

The engines of the Skarloey Railway respectfully stayed quiet as they passed, they never wanted to scare the horses. So their crews would wave for them and the farmers always waved back to them.

One late afternoon, Mayumi was waiting patiently for Ichigo to arrive with the last passenger train of the day. Whilst she waited, she could hear the stationmaster and the porter talking.

"I heard some camels escaped from the local zoo," said the stationmaster, "they broke out sometime last night."

"I didn't even know the zoo had any camels," said the porter, "tell me though, how did they break out of the zoo?"

"I don't know and neither do the zookeepers," the stationmaster sighed at that moment, "I only hope they catch those camels before they get hurt...or someone else in the process."

"Well, only time will tell. I sure hope it's soon though, I hear we're going to be getting some warm weather over the next few days."

The stationmaster chuckled at that moment, "I sure hope you've got enough sunscreen, you burn a little too easily."

The porter only grunted in reply, but nobody could hear him because of Ichigo. She came puffing into the station, the passengers got on board, then the guard blew his whistle a few minutes later and Ichigo puffed away.

The weather grew warmer over the next few days just as the porter of the Top Station had said. Every train was packed with visitors wanting to go to the seaside.

Mayumi visited the seaside during those few days, she enjoyed having a good swim and enjoying the nice cool breeze from the ocean.

"I wonder what Kaede and the other girls are doing now," she thought to herself, then she chuckled, "knowing them, they're all hanging out with Rin. At least now I don't have to put up with Itsuki's dumb remarks."

At the end of the day, Mayumi rode on the train till she reached the station near the horse farm. She then watched the horses until they had gone back inside the barn.

"They're beautiful aren't they?" the farmer's wife asked Mayumi as she walked over to where the grey hair girl was standing.

"They sure are," Mayumi smiled, "how long have you had the horses?"

"Those dear horses have been with us for four years already - well, four years next month," the farmer's wife answered, "these horses remind me so much of the horses I used to ride on when I was a little girl. I've always been fastinated with horses even at a young age."

"So have I," Mayumi smiled then sighed happily, "I would like to ride one of those horses someday and maybe open up a horse farm," she sighed unhappily, "but I don't think that's going to be happening anytime soon though, not with all the school work I'm doing and part time jobs."

"Don't give up on your dreams my dear," the farmer's wife said kindly, "I'm sure you'll get your chance to open up a farm someday."

"I guess so," Mayumi said quietly.

"Tell you what miss, the next time you come by our farm, you can ride one of our horses."

"You mean it?"

"Of course my dear," the farmer's wife smiled. Mayumi was thrilled to hear that. The farmer's wife then looked over to the train station, "you might want to get back to the station or you'll miss your train home."

Mayumi said goodbye and thank you, then she ran off to the station. The farmer's wife smiled, then she walked off back to the farmhouse.

The Farmer's wife decided to stay downstairs for the night as it was cooler in the living room, especially with the fan blowing cold air into the room.

Early the next morning, the wife woke up and looked out to the field - she got quite a surprise...

"I must be seeing things," she thought to herself, she blinked several times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "I don't believe it," she gasped.

"What don't you believe?" the farmer asked as he came downstairs.

"There are camels in our field!" the wife exclaimed.

The farmer walked over to the window, looked outside and gasped, "why you are right honey," he gasped, "there are camels in our field, but where did they come from?"

The farmer and his wife walked outside to the incrieble sight, at around the same time that Ichigo's first passenger train came into view. A few minutes later, Mayumi arrived and she gasped when she saw the camels.

"I think these might be the same camels from the local zoo that escaped a few days ago," she said.

"What I want to know is how could these animals get into our field when the gate is locked," said the farmer, scratching his head.

"We'll worry about that later dear," said his wife, "right now we need to call the local zoo and tell them that their camels are here - and we also need to keep these creatures calm."

"I'll help you," said Mayumi as she walked over to the farmer and his wife.

"Thank you dear sweet child," said the wife.

And so the two women walked into the field while the farmer called for help. For the next four hours, Mayumi and the farmer's wife did their best to keep the camels calm until the zookeepers arrived.

"The last thing we need is for these camels to hurt themselves, especially not with them being so far away from the zoo," said the farmer's wife.

Finally after the four hours of waiting, Ivo Hugh arrived with some trucks to carry the camels, he also brought the zookeeper with him.

"Well bless me," the zookeeper gasped, "that farmer was telling the truth, my camels are in his field," he then looked over to the farmer's wife, "thank you so much for looking after them, I hope they weren't any trouble."

"No trouble at all," said the farmer's wife.

"Although I think the horses are upset about being left in the barn for four hours," Mayumi said quietly.

"I am so sorry about that," the zookeeper said kindly, "we're already making sure that this will never happen again. I want to thank you both for all your help again."

"You're welcome," the farmer's wife and Mayumi said in unison.

The zookeeper and his men soon got to work in getting the camels into Ivo Hugh's trucks, which took quite a long time.

Once the job was done and Ivo Hugh had taken the camels away, the horses were finally allowed out of the barn.

"I don't think they liked being in the barn for so long," said the farmer to his wife.

"No indeed," the wife agreed with chuckling, "nor do they like seeing _other_ animals using their field, but now they look so happy to be running around again."

Then the farmer's wife turned her attention to Mayumi, "I would like to thank you for your help dear sweet girl, I don't think I would've been able to keep all those camels calm without you around."

"Well...you're welcome," she smiled.

"Now, I did promise you that you could ride one of the horses today - it's your choice of which one you want to ride."

Mayumi smiled the biggest smile she had ever shown. She then chose one of the horses, which was the pride of the entire horse farm. Mayumi rode that horse like a professional rider and impressed the farmer and his wife.

Then at the end of the day, after thanking the farmer and his wife, the farmer took a picture of Mayumi with the horse she had rode on, and the farmer's wife standing close by.

"I can't wait to show this picture to my friends when I return to Tokyo," Mayumi thought happily to herself just as the picture was taken, "this is just like a dream come true for me."

**Author's Note:**

This story was based on a real life event when a farmer and his wife woke up one morning to find camels in the field their horses normally use. They waited four hours until the zookeeper and his men arrived to take the camels away, then the farmer and his wife brought the horses out for a run in the field. When and where it happened is unknown.

_**Sir Handel Takes a Dip**_

Ichigo the Narrow Gauge engine was becoming somewhat a famous superstar up in the high hills of Sodor. She was famous because she was a narrow gauge version of a japanese steam engine, it's actually thanks to her that even more visitors were coming to the hills.

"Truely amazing," said one of the enthusiasts, "you don't see many japanese steam engines nowadays."

"The Thin Controller made the right choice in bringing her here," said another one.

Ichigo blushed modestly whenever she heard that from the rail enthusiasts. Only Sir Handel wasn't happy and wasn't afriad to say so, "I'm not happy with having her around."

"And why not?" asked Duncan who was now started to like her, "she seems nice and she's very helpful."

"I have to agree with Duncan," agreed Ivo Hugh, "she's a great engine to have around here."

Sir Handel only grunted in reply, "you engines just don't seem to get it do you? She's an engine from overseas and I have seen the way _those_ engines act, just ask Granpuff about our original No. 2, Stanley as we knew him."

Peter Sam was the next to speak up, he wasn't impressed with what he just heard, "you can't blame Ichigo for what Stanley did on our old line."

"I never said I was blaming her because of Stanley," Sir Handel huffed crossly, "I'm just saying that those types of engines should not be trusted. They come here thinking that they are the best and the next thing you know, they make a huge mess of our yards and the schedule - and that's when our controller puts them firmly in their place - at the back of the shed with the rest of the scrap iron."

And with that said, thinking he had made his point perfectly clear, Sir Handel puffed out of the sheds. He was unaware that Ichigo had heard everything and was now feeling sad.

When her crew to get her, they asked her of what was wrong.

"It's nothing," she sighed unhappily, "nothing at all."

But she couldn't keep it to herself for too long, so once they reached the first station to collect the passengers, Ichigo told them of what Sir Handel had said.

"Well at least now we know why he's been so grumpy lately," said the fireman.

"Driver, fireman, do you think I'm useless scrap iron that should be resting at the back of the sheds?"

"No of course not Ichigo," her Driver said kindly, "you're far too useful to be useless scrap iron."

"That Sir Handel is just talking nonsense," her fireman added, "And from what we have heard, it's not a surprise really. According to what I've heard, he's gotten too big for his buffers in the past and everytime he does, his pride comes back to bite him in the buffers."

"And when that does happen, you can rescue Sir Handel," said another voice on the platform. Ichigo and her crew looked and saw who the voice belonged to, it was Mayumi, she had overheard Ichigo's conversation with her crew, "I know just how you feel Ichigo, back in Tokyo, I get teased all the time just because I'm different, but by the end of the day, they usually get what's coming to them."

"Do you think it could be the same with Sir Handel?" Ichigo asked quietly.

"Oh I'm sure your situation is just the same as mine," Mayumi said confidently, "just wait, you'll see."

Sir Handel in the meanwhile was puffing along with Gertrude and Millicent, the only two coaches on the Skarloey Railway to have boogie wheels. Although he was taking out his favourite coaches, Sir Handel was still grumbling about Ichigo.

"Her days on this railway are numbered," he thought to himself, "she'll probably end up just like Stanley did."

"Slow it down Sir Handel," cautioned his Driver as they neared a hill just past the middle station, "we need to take it easy on this hill."

But Sir Handel didn't slow down, he just charged the hill with every ounce of puff he had. He was so busy thinking about Ichigo that he wasn't thinking clearly or paying attention.

"Slow down! Slow down!" cried the coaches.

"Ichigo will soon be out of service," said Sir Handel out loud, "I can feel it."

"Correction!" his fireman shouted, "it's you that's going to be out of service soon!"

"No I..." but Sir Handel was cut off when he felt his wheels started to pick up speed. He finally snapped out of his thoughts and saw that he was going down the hill at an alarming rate.

The Driver tried everything he could, but it was no good - Sir Handel was out of control. The guard tried his brakes too, but the train was going much too fast, but their troubles were far from over. The old stone bridge that was just up ahead was under repairs, engines had been warned to go slowly over the bridge.

Sir Handel's Driver blew the whistle loud and long to warn the workers.

"What is going on?" one of them asked, they looked and gasped when they saw Sir Handel racing towards the bridge. They waved frantically but had to jump out of the way just as Sir Handel came closer and closer to the bridge.

"Time to bail out!" shouted the Driver.

And so, he and the fireman jumped out of the cab, while the guard told the passengers to brace themselves. All Sir Handel could do was shut his eyes, "oh no!" he cried.

Sir Handel rolled onto the unsteady bridge, which broke underneath him and he splashed into the water.

Luckily, the coupling snapped in between Sir Handel and Gertrude and the two coaches stayed on the rails.

"Oh," groaned Sir Handel, "what happened?"

"You weren't focusing on your work you silly engine," his Driver said crossly, "and because you weren't, we ended racing down the hill towards a bridge under repair and now you're taking a swim in the water," the Driver then looked over to the fireman, "you've got a mobile phone right?"

"Yes, but it's...still in the cab," he groaned, "I forgot to grab it."

"Oh boy," groaned the Driver.

"Don't worry boys," called the guard, "I've already phoned down the line and they promised to send an engine with the breakdown train."

So they waited for another five minutes before the engine finally arrived, it was Ichigo.

"Any engine would've been better than her," Sir Handel muttered under his breath.

"I was the only engine available," Ichigo called out to Sir Handel, "and like it or not, I'm here to help you back to the tracks."

Sir Handel refused to say a word, he wanted to protest, but there was nothing he could at this point. Ichigo moved the breakdown train into position while Mighty Mac, who had been stopped at the middle station, came up to take the coaches back to the station. After five minutes, Sir Handel was back on the solid steel rails again.

The workers coupled him up to the breakdown train, then Ichigo towed him to the next station.

"I can't believe I was saved by...by..."

"By a japanese engine?" Ichigo called out, "I know you think engines from overseas might be troublesome, but I can assure you Sir Handel that I am kindhearted and a loyal hard worker. I'm not one of those engines that gets left at the back of the shed."

At the next station, the two engines were greeted by the Thin Controller and Mayumi.

"See Ichigo," Mayumi smiled happily, "I knew it was only a matter of time before you could show him that you are useful."

"Yeah, you were right Mayumi, thank you."

The Thin Controller thanked Ichigo for her help, then he looked over to Sir Handel with a stern look on his face, "I know about what you've been saying about Ichigo and I know the reason you crashed is because you were thinking about Ichigo's reliability too much to be focusing on your work. I am ashamed of you Sir Handel."

Sir Handel looked down sadly to his buffers, he looked very shamefaced indeed.

"You will be taken to the works tonight to be repaired and cleaned," the Thin Controller continued, "maybe some time out of action will make you think about what you said and maybe you'll come back a wiser engine."

"Yes sir," Sir Handel said quietly and breaking his vow of silence.

Sir Handel was soon sent off to the works and while he was away, Ichigo did all of his jobs and her own without any trouble. A few days later, he returned to the yards a wiser engine and apologized to Ichigo.

"Ichigo, I am so sorry for the way I acted in front of you. I can see now that not all oversea engines are bad, you're one of the finest engines I've ever seen."

Mayumi was nearby and couldn't help but smile when she saw this, "I just have to get a picture of these two magnificent engines," Mayumi smiled as she held out the digital camera and took a quick picture of the two engines.

"Thank you Sir Handel," Ichigo smiled, "and if you don't mind if I say this, but you are also one of the finest engines I've ever seen."

Sir Handel smiled at that moment, "you know something Ichigo, I think this could be the start of a wonderful friendship," Ichigo happily agreed, then she and Mayumi listened carefully as Sir Handel told her the story of when he first met Culdee the Mountain Engine.

_**The End!**_


	14. Asa and the Main Line Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 14**_

_**Asa and the Main Line Engines**_

_**Based on the original "2009" volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Sia and Nerine have recently told me some stories that Asa told them and the rest of our Tokyo friends during a summer barbacue party. These stories were about her own adventures on the main line during their first trip to Sodor, some stories were more surprising than others. As you can guess, Sia and Nerine asked me if I could write a book about Asa's adventures on Sodor and...well, I'm sure you can guess what my answer is going to be...yes! And so my friends, here are the tales of Asa and the main line engines._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-An Unforgettable Night

-The Wrong Signals

-Caught in the Act

-Asa and the Emu

_**An Unforgettable Night**_

It was a beautiful summer's day in the city of Tokyo, Asa, Sia, Drew, Melissa (his girlfriend) and Nerine were visiting their friends, Kaede, Rin and Primula at the Fuyou house for a summer barbacue party. Today was a perfect day for the party as it wasn't too warm out and it wasn't too cool out, it was just perfect. Asa and Kaede worked together in cooking the meals, Rin, Sia and Nerine played a little game of horseshoes.

As for Primula, well - she stood close to the doorway of the kitchen, watching and being silent as always and holding onto her two toy cats again.

"It's only too bad Kareha couldn't come to the party," Asa was saying to Kaede, "when I called her, she had come down with a nasty bug."

"The flu?" Sia asked as she looked back over to where Asa was standing, "how is it possible for someone to get it during the summer. I mean, during the winter I can understand, but not in the summer."

"It can happen Sia," said Nerine, "I think it all depends on what the weather is like, I'm not quite sure."

"I wish I had your booksmarts Rina," Sia muttered quietly as she threw her horseshoe.

"I just wonder how Mayumi is doing," said Kaede, "do you guys think she's having a good time on Sodor?"

"Oh I'm sure she is," Asa smiled, "I could tell that she was excited just before she went off to Sodor, just like we were," she giggled.

"I bet you that she's having an unforgettable experience there," said Drew as he threw a horseshoe, "it's probably as exciting like when Kaede helped save a runaway Thomas, or when Primula saved Daisy from a near disaster or even when Sia saved James from that mudslide."

"Actually I think she already had an unforgettable experience," said Kaede, she then told everyone about the camel incident and Sir Handel falling into the stream, "she called us a few nights ago and told us."

"From what you have said," said Melissa, "Sir Handel was in one of his moods again."

Drew smiled and then looked back to his Tokyo friends, who were looking surprised, "she knows that because she's read the books from the Thin Clergyman too," smiled Drew.

"I think you forgot one unforgettable experience," Asa called out, "you forgot about my unforgettable night out."

"I don't think you've told us about that night," said Rin.

"I haven't? I thought for sure I did...oh well, I could tell you now if you want me to," the two boys and the five girls all nodded in agreement and so, Asa began to tell her story.

The following incidents took place just one day after Thomas' runaway adventure and before James' accident at the junction. Asa was riding on board Gordon's express train and taking pictures at certain stops along the way.

"This is great," she smiled, "I can't wait to show these pictures to everyone later tonight."

The express soon stopped at the works station near Crovan's gate, Asa stepped out for a few minutes to take some pictures of the station and the works, which included the works diesel shunting in the sidings. This was the very diesel that helped James when the water in his tender froze.

Asa took a lot of pictures, then she ran back to the train, just in the nick of time cause the guard had blown his whistle and Gordon was ready to go.

"Too close," Asa gasped quietly to herself, "but at least I got some interesting pictures."

While the express continued on to the last station of the line, Asa looked at all the pictures, "perfect pictures," she smiled happily to herself.

Before long, the train finally arrived at Vicarstown station, this is where the Fat Controller's railway meets up with the engines of the Other Railway. Asa started taking pictures of the station and the many trains there before and after the express had left behind a diesel from the Other Railway.

"Steaming kettles," it grumbled, "go to a scrap yard!"

"Oh shut up!" snapped Gordon crossly as he went off to the sheds to get turned around.

Asa spent the whole day at Vicarstown taking pictures and shopping for souvenirs she wanted to bring back to Tokyo. Then at around five that evening, she went back to the station to ride another train to the junction of Thomas' branch line.

She waited for three and a half minutes before the train arrived. Asa gasped when she saw it, "they almost look like the high speed trains we have back in Japan," she gasped out loud. She then pulled out her camera and took a couple of pictures of the train as it came to a stop at the station.

The engines on this train were Pip and Emma, these are old friends to the engines of the Fat Controller's railway.

Once she had her ticket, Asa climbed onboard and waited for the train to start. A few minutes later, the guard blew his whistle and the high speed train departed out of the station.

Gordon's express doesn't stop at all the stations before it reaches Vicarstown, the only stop it makes is the works station at Crovan's Gate. Pip and Emma's high speed train on the other hand makes more stops than the express, one of those stops was the junction at Thomas' branch line.

It wasn't long before they reached the junction, the brakes went on gently as the diesels approached the siding - but Pip and Emma didn't slow down. Instead, they ran on past the platform and ran on further down the tracks.

"Oh my," gasped Pip, who was in front, "what's going on?"

"I don't know," the Driver cried as he tried to stop the train. For a while, nothing he tried worked until at last when Pip and Emma came to a stop some distance away from the junction platform.

"Is everything okay up there Pip?" Emma called from the back.

"I'm not sure," her sister called back, "the brakes were working just fine, so why did we slip?"

Nobody knew that answer for sure, but they had no time to figure out why Pip and Emma didn't stop, they had to go back to the station to drop off the passengers.

When they arrived, they were greeted by the stationmaster, "I can't understand what went wrong," said the driver, "The brakes were working just fine, so why..."

"It was because of leaves," said the stationmaster, "we just inspected the tracks before you returned, the lines were covered in nothing but wet leaves, that's why you couldn't stop probably."

Pip groaned quietly to herself, "I sure hope nobody tells James this, he'll never let us hear the end of it."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," called Emma from the back, "he might understand our situation."

The Stationmaster and the driver apologized to the passengers for the unexpected flight away from the station. Once they found out why they didn't stop, the passengers weren't cross at all, they now knew it wasn't Pip and Emma's fault.

In a short while, Asa and the many other passengers were riding on board Toby's coaches, Victoria and Henrietta on the way to Ffarquhar station. Once they arrived, the passengers got off and walked off either for their homes or the Sodor hotel.

Asa was just a few blocks away from the hotel when she suddenly heard a loud shatter of glass.

"What was that?" she asked.

She looked to the direction of the noise and saw that the local mall's front door had been smashed. A few seconds later, the source of the damage could be seen, it was a minivan!

"What in blazes?" Asa was surprised.

Before she could think of anything else, she saw two police cars block the minivan. The man of the vehicle stepped out and so did the officers, they wanted answers. The man however wasn't going to say anything just yet, he started fighting the officers, that was until they tazed him.

They were able to handcuff the man and bring him over to one of the police cars, "okay buddy," said one of the officers, "do you mind telling us why you were driving wildly threw the mall?"

"I was looking for my wife, she's been kidnapped," he answered.

The police officers didn't believe the man's story, so they placed him into the back seat of one of the patrol cars and called for Butch the Tow Truck to come collect the car.

"And that's my unforgettable evening," Asa said as she concluded her story.

"I might be an expert on railroads," said Drew, "but I've never heard about an engine slipping past the platform because of wet leaves."

"It is possible though," said Melissa, "James the Red Engine had that problem once, remember that story?" Drew nodded his head, he knew which story Melissa was talking about.

"Still though," Asa spoke up, "I thought I told you guys that story..."

"Asa," Sia piped up next, "did you have any other interesting adventures on the main line?"

"Yes I did," she answered, "some of them were surprising that much for sure, those were moments you have to see to believe," she then looked back over to the food, "I guess I could tell you some of those adventures, if you really want to hear them."

Of course everyone wanted to hear Asa's stories, so once they had taken a seat in the lawn chairs and had their meals, Asa began to tell another story...

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by two real life events. Pip and Emma's slide through the staiton was based on the incident that occured at the Stonegate station in East Sussex on November 8th 2010. A commuter train travelling at 65 mph wouldn't stop at the platform and ran on for another two and a half miles, the answer why it didn't stop was revealed - it was leaves on the tracks, making a poor adhesion condition for the commuter train. The little smash in at the mall in the town of Ffarquhar was based on the unbelieveable real life event of a man who went on a little joyride through an empty mall during the night, reason why is the same as in the story, he was drunk though. When and where that incident occured is unknown.

_**The Wrong Singals**_

When it comes to level crossings, motorists have to remember to take care near them. When the lights start flashing, it is important that they stay behind the arm that goes down at the same time, that means 'train is coming, stay back'. Lots of people obey the rules at the level crossings, but then there are those that don't obey the rules of the railway and take unnecessary risks by going through the level crossing gates and try to beat the train.

When the engines and their crews see this, they get a huge shock and are thrown into a panic.

"GET OFF THE CROSSING!" the engine would shout while their crew blew the whistle or air horn.

On almost every railroad around the world have experienced incidents in the past and a lot of those incidents have resulted in disasters. Thankfully on Sodor, nobody's been badly hurt - mostly cause for those who break the rules, they get away with inches to spare.

One night, Henry came puffing into the sheds and looking cross.

"That was another close call," he said as he came into his engine berth, "another lorry dashed in front of me at one of the crossings, it escaped with inches to spare."

"That's the third one this month," said Gordon crossly.

Considering the fact that both Gordon and Henry use the busiest main lines on Sodor, they see more level crossings than any of the branch lines and the slower main line routes.

"You two think you have it bad," said Hank the American Engine, "I clipped a car last month while it was racing past the level crossing."

"Just about every engine has faced dangers at the level crossings," said Henry, "we should be thankful though that nobody's been hurt."

"Quite right Henry," Gordon agreed with him, "although I'm a little concerned about that crossing near that new set of traffic lights, what if some driver..."

"I knaw what ya are thinkin' Gordon," Douglas piped up next, "it could happen, but ya ne'er knaw, it mightna happen at all."

"Still though, I think we should be careful around the level crossings, no matter which line we're on..."

Just as Gordon had finished talking, James came puffing into the sheds and grumbling about Sia laughing at him after his accident at the junction.

The next morning, Henry was being coupled up to a passenger train that was to go all the way to the Works Station and back to Knapford. Gordon was in the siding as Henry came to the station.

"Remember to be careful near those crossings Henry," Gordon advised, "especially that new one! That one is more dangerous than all the other ones."

"Thanks for the warning Gordon, I'll be careful!"

Henry backed slowly onto the coaches, then the fireman got out of the cab and coupled Henry up. At this time, the passengers were getting on board the coaches, one of them was Asa Shigure with her digital camera, she wanted to take some more pictures that she could show her friends and her mother, Ms. Ama later on.

Once the passengers were on board, the guard blew his whistle and Henry puffed slowly out of the station, giving Gordon the same warning for when he left with the express later.

The crossing Gordon was talking about was a new level crossing along the busy main line. The reason the engines are afraid of this new crossing is because of the traffic lights that sat somewhat a short distance from the crossing. Gordon feared that the motorists will obey the traffic lights and proceed when the crossing's lights go off.

Henry soon approached the crossing, his Driver blew the whistle off loud and long to warn people he was coming. Henry didn't need to worry, motorists stayed behind the crossing gates as he passed threw.

"Whew!" Henry gasped, "no accident today."

Asa looked out the window and noticed that the traffic light was green, "weird place to put a traffic light," she thought to herself, "it should be further down the street, it's an accident just waiting to happen."

Little did anyone know that the 'accident' Asa was talking about was going to happen sooner than they all thought.

Asa spent most of her day taking pictures of interesting sights, vehicles, locations and of course the many engines that came by. At around five in the afternoon, Asa was waiting at a bus stop near the new level crossing. She was waiting for Bertie the Bus to come take her and some other passengers to Ffarquhar - all of the sudden, she heard loud horns blaring from the level crossing.

Some motorists, one of which was a lorry with a trailer, were waiting for the traffic light to change to green.

"Patience is a Virtue," Asa thought quietly to herself.

Just as the light had changed to green, the crossing lights started flashing and a whistle could be heard in the distance, it was Gordon with the express. Two cars dashed over the crossing, followed by the lorry with a trailer, but as it rolled over the crossing gates, the traffic light changed to red and it stopped - with it's trailer sticking out over the railway tracks.

"Get Off the Tracks!" Asa shouted to the Driver, "there's a train coming!"

The lorry driver heard Asa's warning and looked to her left and saw that there was indeed a train coming, but she wasn't going to be able to move off the tracks in time.

Gordon was having the time of his life as he thundered along the line, "Hurry, hurry, hurry," he puffed importantly.

"We're coming, we're coming, there's no rush," called the coaches, "we've got plenty of time."

Gordon heard them but before he could reply back, he heard loud car and lorry horns blaring in the distance. He then saw a terrible sight, there was a lorry's trailer sticking out on the crossing.

"Stop Driver! Stop!" Gordon shouted in pure panic.

The Driver applied the brakes as hard as he could, "at 70 miles per hour, I don't think we'll stop in time," he then blew the whistle loud and long as they came to the crossing.

All anyone could do now was hope and watch helplessly, Asa didn't even bring out her camera.

Gordon closed his eyes and braced himself for the brutal impact...

Gordon went crashing right into the trailer, demolishing it to pieces and smashing it into a thousand pieces, "OW!" Gordon cried in pain. While the trailer had been demolished to pieces, the lorry itself was left undamaged. The Driver stepped a minute after the crash, along with her dog, neither one of them were hurt.

Asa was surprised when she saw the Driver step out, but she was cross at her, just like everyone else was.

"What were you thinking?" Asa snapped crossly at the lorry driver, "when the crossing lights go off, that means 'don't cross!', are you stupid or something?"

"I didn't even know until the last moment," said the Driver, still a little shaken, "that's when I heard a loud bang on the trailer, then I heard your warning..."

"Then why didn't you get off the tracks?"

"I panicked, plus there was no time for me to get off the tracks."

Butch the Tow Truck came ten minutes later to tow the lorry away while Jack the Front Loader was called to load up the damaged trailer into Max and Monty's buckets.

As for Gordon, his front end had been badly damaged. His buffers were dangling from their posts, bits of the trailer sat on his front end and his lamp rods had been broken off from their posts. He got the express to Vicarstown station, then he was taken off to the works while Murdoch took over the return express train.

"What a wreck," said the workmen, "don't you worry Gordon, we'll have you fixed up in no time."

The workmen worked hard until around midnight when Gordon was finally repaired and allowed to go back to the sheds. Nobody said a single word as Gordon came in, apart from James' grumbling about Sia.

As for Asa, she wishes she hadn't seen that, and even when she told the story to her friends, she says that was one of the worst accidents she had ever seen, but she is thankful that no one was seriously hurt.

**Author's Note:**

The accident at the level crossing was based on a real life event that occured on a level crossing near a set of traffic lights. The truck driver didn't know the crossing lights were going off and drove up to the crossing, only to stop with the trailer on the track because the traffic light had changed to red. An Amtrack train came towards the crossing at 70 mph and smashed right through the trailer, demolishing it to pieces. Luckily, no one was hurt and the truck was safe, the Driver was able to walk away from the crash safely, along with her dog, although the crash had damaged the front end of the locomotive badly. When and where it happened is unknown.

_**Caught in the Act**_

While everyone ate their lunch, Asa continued to tell stories and this is another one...

Henry the Green Engine was puffing along with the late night express train, he was running to perfect timing as his wheels pounded the rails. He had had a good day and now he was looking forward to telling the other engines once he got back to the sheds.

"Keep it up old boy!" called his Driver, "you're doing well!"

"Oh is Gordon going to be jealous by me," Henry chuckled quietly to himself, "maybe the Fat Controller should..." Henry's thoughts were suddenly interupted as he came to the level crossing.

Something wet and hard hit Henry on his front end, "ouch!" Henry cried, "what was that?"

"Vandals, that's what!" cried the Driver.

Henry's Driver was correct, it was vandals - five young men were standing near the level crossing and firing paint balls at Henry. They splatted all over his front end, then on his side.

Some of the paint balls hit the carriage windows, which smashed on impact.

"How rude! How rude!" cried the coaches.

"Knock it off you little vandals!" shouted the guard. The men didn't listen to him, they fired more paint balls at him! The guard was able to avoid the paint balls, but another passenger wasn't so lucky as they were hit by it.

"Ow!" the passenger cried, "I've been hit!"

"It's only a paintball," said the guard as he helped the passenger back to his feet, "still - if I see them rascals again, I will give them a lesson they'll never forget."

Henry and his crew were also thinking the same thing as they passed the level crossing. The silly vandals just laughed, jumped into their car and drove off.

"That was great!" they snickered, "we should do that again tomorrow night."

"Nah, let's do it again tonight," snickered another man and the other men agreed with sly looks on their faces.

Henry was furious when he arrived at the big station, his shiny coat of green paint was now covered with little spots of paint and so was his face.

"Goodness me Henry," Duck gasped, "Whatever happened to you?"

"Vandals, that's what!" Henry fumed, "they were firing paint balls at me - look at me now! I once had lovely green paint on my boiler. I now look like a rainbow."

"Not a very pretty one," muttered one of the passengers.

Henry snorted crossly, "never mind Henry," said his Driver, "We'll give you a good washdown when we get back to the yards. In the meantime, we should report this to the Fat Controller, we wouldn't something like this happening again."

I'm sorry to say though that this was happening again...

Molly was taking the stopping passenger train past another level crossing, the journey was going well - that was until she felt something wet and hard hit her on the boiler. The same men from before were now firing their paintballs at Molly, they were laughing out loud as the passengers screamed and Molly shouted crossly at them.

One of the men then noticed a flash of light from the train, "Someone just took our picture," he said.

"Who is it?" asked one of the other men.

"A girl with green hair," he answered, "she was the one who took our picture."

"We can't let that picture fall into the hands of the police, follow that train!" So the men got into the car and raced after Molly's train. So, have you guessed who it was that took the picture? Yes you are right, it was Asa. She took the picture for one important reason, she was going to show it to the police.

"Those creeps aren't going to get away with this," she thought to herself.

The troublemakers tried hard to catch up with Molly's passenger train, honking their horn loudly. Molly's fireman looked out the window to see them, "they're trying to hit us again!"

"You have to be kidding me," said the Driver as he looked back, "well I'm not going to let that happen again."

He opened the regulator even more and Molly began to pick up speed, although she wasn't as fast as Henry or James, Molly was still going faster than the car.

"Get your phone out and call the police," the Driver called to the fireman, "tell them to meet up with us at the next station, cause I'm sure those troublemakers will be there."

After shovelling some more coal into Molly's firebox, the fireman got out his mobile phone and phoned the police department.

"I hope your plan works," Molly called to the Driver, then she had a thought, "I wonder why they're chasing us."

"Don't know," her Driver answered, "but for now, that's not important - what's important is keeping them away from our passengers!"

After a few minutes, Molly was red cheeked and was panting as she rolled down the rails, "are they still following us?"

"They are," said her Driver, "I sure wish those police officers..."

"There they are!" called the fireman, "there are at least threee police cars after that one car!"

The Driver looked back and saw that the fireman was right, "good timing," he smiled, but his smile soon faded, "those guys aren't slowing down, they're still after us."

"Oh no," groaned Molly.

Poor Molly was feeling puffed out, but she had to struggle on to the next station, her smoke was turning into a deeper shade of grey and her face was matching James' coat of red paint.

"I wish they would stop, I wish they would stop," Molly panted unhappily.

At last, they reached the next station, Molly was out of breath and was glad to stop. The car entered into the parking lot and the five men ran towards the platform, but they never got there as were captured by the police officers.

"You're making a big mistake," said one of the men, "we did nothing wrong."

"You ran from us," said one of the officers, "you're suppose to pull over when you see us. Now why don't you lads tell us why you were chasing that passenger train?"

"It's because I took a picture of them," called Asa as she walked over to the officer. She turned on her digital camera and showed him a picture of the five foolish men shooting paint balls at the train.

"Thank you for showing us this picture miss," said the officer, then he looked over to the men, "we've been informed about what you've been doing, and now we've got all the evidence we need to make sure you won't be trying something like this again."

The men groaned, their so called 'wonderful' evening had now been ruined, all because of Molly speeding down the tracks and Asa taking that picture of them.

The police thanked Asa, Molly and her crew for their help, then they left with the five vandals.

Molly set off a few mintues later and throughtout the rest of the trip back to the big station, she puffed along at a nice smooth pace. When she pulled into the big station, she was surprised to see Henry covered in different colors, she could only guess what happened.

"Let me guess, five vandals attacked you with paint balls."

"Yes they did," Henry grumbled crossly, "if I ever see those..."

"You're a little too late Henry, they've been caught in the act. One of those Tokyo girls took a picture of those vandals while they were shooting their paint balls at me," she then told Henry everything.

"Good thing she had that camera," Henry smiled for the first time since he arrived at the big station, "at least now we can puff down the line without any worries."

"You did good Asa," smiled Melissa as Asa finished telling her story, "still I have to know, weren't you scared when those vandals were shooting those paintballs at the train?"

"A little bit yes, but I had to do something to stop them from doing that again."

"When did that event happen?" Primula asked while breaking her vow of silence again.

"Just a couple of days after your station was opened," Asa answered as she looked back over to the purple haired girl, "come to think of it, it occured just before that strange moment on Duck and Oliver's line."

"What strange moment?" Rin asked.

"Oh come on," Asa groaned quietly, "surely I told you guys about that moment." Everyone shook their heads, "I can't believe I didn't tell you guys, oh well - I can tell you guys about it now..."

And once again, everyone went silent as Asa began her next story...

_**Asa and the Emu**_

On the last day of the long trip on Sodor, Asa was riding on Duck's passenger train to the Little Western train. She had heard so much about this Great Western line that she wanted to see it for herself. Duck was puffing along smoothily down the tracks with both of his coaches, Alice and Mirabel rolling along behind him.

The sun shone brightly in the sky and there was no cloud to be seen, it was turning out to be a perfect day.

It wasn't long before Duck finally arrived at the station, he could see Donald shunting some trucks under the chute and having a small chat with Mike the Small Railway Engine.

"Looks like you got a full train there Duck!" called Oliver, the other Great Western tank Engine.

"I sure do," said Duck, "lots of people want to see the Little Western today - I even think one of Thomas' Tokyo friends is on board my train today."

"You mean that green haired girl?" Oliver asked as he looked over to the platform.

Duck looked and saw Asa pointing her camera at the Great Western tank engine and taking his picture.

"That would be her," Duck smiled.

"My name is Asa just to let you know!" she called to Oliver and winking at him.

Oliver blushed when Asa winked, he never had a girl wink at him before.

At that moment, Douglas came up to the yards with a load of empty ballast trucks, "ya are nae gonna believe this," he was saying, "but along the way 'ere, I saw an emu."

"A what?" Oliver asked.

"An Emu," said his Driver, "they are huge birds that live in Australia, still it's surprising to hear of an emu running around near our branch line."

"Sae ya betta be careful oot there," advised Douglas, "better safe than soory."

Asa spent the entire day on the Small Railway's line, she rode on Rex's passenger train and watched as Bert and Blister I, one of the maintenance diesels, hauled a train load of ballast to the yards for Douglas to collect.

She got lots of pictures of the Small Railway engines, from Blister II, the second maintenance diesel, doing some track inspection work, Sigrid of Arlesdale, the passenger diesel, coming into the station with a passenger train, then she got some pictures of Mike and Jock pass with empty ballast trucks, and finally she got a picture of Frank shunt the ballast trucks onto the chute.

Asa had a splendid day and her digital camera's memory card had enough room for three more pictures before it was complete.

"What a day," she sighed happily, "I can't wait to tell everyone about today."

Just after she got her ticket, Duck came puffing up to the station with Alice and Mirabel rolling along behind him. Once all the passengers were on board, the guard blew his whistle and Duck puffed slowly and carefully out of the station.

Once out on the open line, Duck started to pick up speed and thundered along to the big station. He was running along to perfect time and his steam preasure was good.

Just before the tunnel, Duck was waved down by a woman, who was waving a red sweater.

Duck's Driver applied the brakes gently and brought the train to a hault, "I wonder what the matter is," he thought to himself.

The passengers were wondering the same thing too, some of them were leaning out the window to see what was going on.

"Thank you very much for stopping," said the woman, "if you hadn't..." she was cut off when something big and feathery went dashing past Duck, it was the Emu that Douglas was talking about before. The giant sized bird wasn't alone, as there was a man chasing after it.

"What are you trying to do?" asked the fireman.

"I'm trying to save this bird," said the man as he tackled the bird to the ground, "you see, this Emu was living at a local farm, but they ran out of money and..." the man was really struggling with the giant bird, "they let it go loose, my wife and I are trying to catch it and save it before it gets hurt."

"Are you going to raise him or eat him?" the fireman asked as a joke.

"Raise him and look after him," said the man, "come on big fella, calm down."

Asa got down from Alice and walked over, "would you like some help?"

"Yes," groaned the man, "we could use all the help we can get!"

So Asa tried to help the man tie up the bird, but the giant sized bird was being a little too stubborn and was refusing to give up. It kicked at the man, pushing him back a short distance. Asa never got hit, but she fell when it slipped away.

The bird stood up, it looked like it was going to run away again - that's when the man stood up and did a flying tackle, knocking the bird to the ground, "alright big fella, clam down! Nobody's going to hurt you."

"I don't think Oliver and the Scottish twins will believe me when I tell them this," said Duck to his crew.

"Nor will the Fat Controller when we tell him," said Duck's Driver, "I don't know if he's going to be mad or if he's going to laugh."

It took a long time, but at last, the bird was tied up and was put into the back of a lorry to taken off to it's new home. The man was finally able to catch his breath, "I had to chase that Emu for four minutes before we got here," he groaned.

"Looks like you lost a good pair of pants in the struggle," Asa chuckled.

It was true, the man's pants were ripped from the knee down on the left side and he was missing a boot, "I bet you guys wouldn't want a passenger like that," he called to Duck's crew.

"Not at all," said Duck's fireman, "I would prefer releasing him in the wild."

"Thanks to that Emu, we're going to be late at the big station," said Duck's Driver, "you better get back on board miss, we're leaving now!"

And so Asa jumped back into Alice, then Duck stormed off back down the line. The man and his wife waved to the passengers as the train raced into the tunnel. Duck tried his best to make up for lost time, his wheels pounded the rails, going as fast as his wheels could carry him.

The passenger train arrived a few minutes late, the Fat Controller was on the platform, "you're late Duck, why's that?"

"You're not going to believe me sir if I tell you," the Great Western pannier tank engine groaned, "We were stopped by a man chasing an Emu."

"What?"

So Duck and his crew told the Fat Controller about Asa and the man's little fight with the Emu, when they had finished, the Fat Controller couldn't help but chuckle out loud.

"Is this all true Duck?"

"Yes sir."

"Well then, I won't blame you for being late, you did the right thing by stopping. Safety is very important on our railway after all," the Fat Controller then walked away for his office, he was still chuckling.

Truth be told, when the other engines heard Duck's story, they couldn't help but laugh. Of course, they weren't laughing at Duck, they were laughing at the man fighting the emu. Now they wished they had seen it for themselves.

When Asa had finished her story, most of her friends were laughing, "first Gordon and Henry get stopped by a cow on the bridge," Drew was saying while chuckling, "then Murdoch gets stopped by sheep and now Duck gets stopped by an Emu."

"I'm still surprised I didn't you guys that story before," said Asa, "who was it I told that story to? Ah well, at least you guys know now."

"And we would like to thank you greatly for telling us that interesting story," said Melissa, "Still, I wonder how that Emu is doing now."

"Last I heard, it's doing quite well in it's new home. Thomas told me that he's seen the Emu at his new home - and you'll be happy to know that the Emu hasn't tried picking another fight with that man again."

Everyone laughed loudly when Asa said that, even Primula was able to laugh along to that joke, but very quietly.

"You are just amazing Asa," smiled Rin, "no matter where you go, you always seem to find exctiment."

"Maybe Rin," Asa chuckled, "or it could be the other way around, excitment always seems to find me."

**Author's Note:**

This story is based on an unbelievable real life event of a man fighting an Emu on the side of the road. Reason why is the same as in the story, only difference was that the little fight was going on in front of a police man, who stood back and watched the entire show from a safe distance. The man did lose his boot and a good pair of pants in the struggle, when and where this unbelievable event occured is unknown.

_**The End!**_


	15. Emily and the City of Tokyo

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 15**_

_**Emily and the City of Tokyo**_

_**Based on the Original "2009" Volume by: Anime Boy**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000 & Anime Boy**_

Dear Friends,

_In August of 2008, the Little Tokyo Railroad was celebrating it's fifth anniversery. Another engine from the Fat Controller's railway has come to Tokyo to help out with the workloads and the celebration, it was Emily the Stirling Engine. Not everyone was happy to see her - it actually brought out a side of one of the Little Tokyo Engines that no one has ever seen before and the celebrations were nearly ruined because of Nerine's Fan-Club. Luckily for everyone, all turned out well in the end. These stories tell you of what happened._

The Authors

**Stories Included:**

-Emily: Friend or Foe?

-Nerine's Secret

-Backfired Plans

-Guilty Conscience

_**Emily: Friend or Foe?**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

As the months changed from July to August, the Little Tokyo Railroad was working harder than ever. More and more goods went to and from the dockyards and the warehouse district. All three of the Little Tokyo Engines, Courtney, Li and Luke were working their hardest and so was Thomas, who was still visiting the line.

The reason the railroad was busier than ever was because they were preparing for the upcoming fifth anniversery party.

"It's hard to believe that it's been five years since our little line was opened up," Courtney said to the three other engines one night, "gosh, it almost seems like yesterday when the railroad was first opened."

"And by the looks of this celebration," said Li, "we're going to be busier than ever," he then looked over to Thomas, "it's a good thing you're still here to help."

"Still though," Luke spoke up, "there's so much work around here that we may need another engine around here."

"You're right there Luke," said a voice at the door.

The engines looked to the doorway and saw the Man in the Suit walking into their shed, "because of our upcoming celebration, we will need another engine here."

"Are you going to buy another engine for the railway sir?" Courtney asked.

"Not yet Courtney, maybe in a couple of months, it depends how busy we're going to be," he answered, "we will be borrowing another engine until after the celebration. I was thinking about maybe borrowing another engine from the Fat Controller's railway."

"You might have a bit of trouble there sir," said Thomas, "most of the branch lines and the main lines are very busy at this time of the year."

"Well I'll never know until I call him."

The Man in the Suit then walked out of the sheds and headed off for home.

"Do you think he might send Percy?" Li suggested.

"I don't know," Thomas answered, "we'll find out soon enough."

Early the next morning, the Man in the Suit was in his office talking with the Fat Controller on the other end of the phone, "Oh Percy is busy again? Well, isn't there an engine you could send here?"

"Let me see here," said the Fat Controller, he was looking threw his timetable, "I can't spare Gordon, he's needed on the express, nor can I spare Henry, James or Murdoch, they're needed on goods trains."

The Fat Controller searched threw his timetable, it seemed like all of his engines were busy, until at last...

"Hold on a second," he said, "I think I might just have the engine you're looking for. It's an engine that works on Thomas' branch line," he then told the Man in the Suit about the engine.

"Yes, I think she would do very nicely, she would be a great help around here."

"Very well then," said the Fat Controller, "I'll send her right away."

"Thank you very much sir," said the Man in the Suit, then he hung up the phone, he decided to keep the engine's name a secret until she arrived.

A few days later, Courtney and Li were at the dockyards, they were waiting to have their trucks loaded with cargo, "I still think we can do everything by ourselves," Courtney was saying, "back when this line was opened up, I was the only engine around and I was always on time."

"Well that was then and this is now," said Li, "there's more work here now then there ever was before."

"Lucky for us we have Li and Luke," said her Driver, "and even Thomas, without them, we would be falling behind schedule."

"Yeah I know," Courtney said quietly.

"Still, I wonder which engine will come to Tokyo," said Li out loud, "will it be one of those main line engines or will it be one of the branch line engines."

"We'll find out soon enough," said Li's Driver, "cause I can see the ship from Sodor coming."

Both engines looked out to the ocean and saw a ship coming, it was the ship from Sodor, it had plenty of passengers and the visiting engine. Courtney wanted to stay at the docks and meet the engine, but she had to go with her train.

At last, the ship pulled up beside the dockside. Rick lowered his hook inside the hall of the ship, then after hearing "pull away!" he tugged and pulled, he grumbled once again.

"I think retirement's looking pretty good right now," he grumbled.

"Well at least we won't need to hear your complaining anymore," chuckled Li. Rick shot Li a dirty look as he continued lifting the Sodor engine out of the ship's hall.

The engine was lifted out first, it had a very unique design with a tall funnel and curved short cab and dark green paint. It also had big wheels and a big brass dome. Rick lowered to the ground with a small thud.

"A little softer next time," Li called up to Rick as a joke.

Rick grunted as he moved his hook into the hall of the ship again for the engine's tender.

"Don't mind Mr. High and Mighty," Li spoke to the engine, "it's just who he is. My name is Li, what's your name?"

"My name is Emily, it's nice to meet you Li."

Just as Rick lowered the tender onto the rails, Thomas arrived with a train of trucks, "hello Emily, it's good to see you here - welcome to the City of Tokyo and to the Little Tokyo Railroad."

"Thanks Thomas, it feels good to be here - is there anything I should know before I get to work?"

"Yes there is. Don't bump the trucks, they are quite friendly and don't need bumping, unlike our trucks back on Sodor."

"Oh and just to let you know," advised Li, "some of the trucks speak perfect english, they'll help you understand what the other trucks are saying."

"Thanks for the advice," smiled Emily.

Luke arrived with the Man in the Suit, he greeted Emily and her crew as Luke pushed Emily's tender towards her. Once she was coupled up, the Man in the Suit gave her a job and she puffed off once she was fired up.

Emily was soon coupled up to a line of trucks and was on her way to the warehouse district. She made good timing and made sure she gave the trucks a comfortable ride. She soon arrived at the warehouse district, where she got a surprise...

"Li? How did you get here so fast?" Emily asked in shock.

The engine chuckled, "and so history repeats itself," he chuckled to himself, then he spoke to Emily, "my dear engine, my name is not Li, I'm his brother, Ken."

Emily looked at the boiler and noticed that Ken was painted in blue paint, "oh sorry," she said, feeling rather embarrassed, "I thought you..."

"Don't worry about it, I've been mistaken for my brother hundreds of times back when we worked in the states."

Once the little mixed up was cleared, Emily introduced herself, then Ken introduced her to Nayuki the overhead crane and Masuko the Shop crane, who was working on unloading Emily's trucks. Once her trucks were unloaded and Emily had been turned around, then she puffed off back to the dockyards, whistling goodbye to the workshop crew.

Along the way, she was diverted into a siding to wait for Courtney, who had returned to the docks sometime after Emily left with her goods train, to pass with another goods train. As Emily waited, she heard singing coming from the nearby park. Emily looked over to the park and saw who the angel like voice belonged to - it was Nerine.

"She's got a beautiful voice," Emily thought to herself. To Emily and her crew, just hearing Nerine sing gave them a warm peaceful feelings in their hearts. Not one of them said anything, they didn't want to interupte Nerine.

When she had finished singing, she looked up to see Emily in the nearby siding. She got up from the swing and watched over to the dark green tender engine, "have you been there long?"

"Only a few minutes," answered Emily, "you have such a wonderful voice." Both the Driver and fireman agreed with Emily.

"Well thank you," she smiled, she looked Emily all over, "you are an impressive engine Emily."

"Thanks," she smiled and so the two of them started talking.

Courtney soon came into view with her train of trucks, she had heard the nice words Nerine had said, "That's very strange," she thought to herself, "Nerine doesn't usually say such nice things to anyone, other than Rin and myself."

Of course Nerine will say nice things to anyone, it's just who she is.

"That must be the other Sodor engine that just arrived," said Courtney's fireman as he looked out the cab, "she is quite beautiful."

"And quite old too," said Courtney's Driver, "she's one of those stirling class engines, probably frorm the old LNER railway."

As she continued to pass the siding, Courtney got a terrible thought into her head, "what if Nerine doesn't like me anymore? What if she likes that Emily more than me?" Courtney groaned to herself, "no, no I refuse to believe that."

But still, just hearing Emily and Nering talking and laughing to some of the stories that were told, it made Courtney worry more than ever.

_**Nerine's Secret**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000 & Anime Boy**_

At the end of the day, Courtney puffed back into the yards - only to find Emily being surronded by lots of people and beings from the two realms, they were all taking pictures of her.

"What's going on?" Courtney asked out loud, "why are they taking so many pictures of her?"

"There's a good reason why," said Luke, he was also in the yards with Courtney, "she's a rare type of engine, known by many as the stirling class - these people have come here to get some pictures of a real famous engine."

"And what about us? This is _our_ railroad's anniversary, not _her's_!"

It was clear to see that Courtney was not happy with Emily being around. Luke and his Driver could see that when they saw Courtney push her trucks angerily into a siding, they banged into the bumper post.

"Ow! Courtney you don't need to be so rough!" called the trucks.

Courtney didn't say sorry to the trucks, she puffed away with an angry look on her face, "no one takes my friends and gets away with it," she muttered crossly. Luke and his Driver stared at her with concerned looks on their faces.

Melissa, Drew, Primula and Kaede came by to the dockyards to see Emily and Mayumi, who had just returned from her trip to Sodor. Once Mayumi told them her stories, everyone focused their attention back to Emily.

"She definetly looks one of the original stirling engines back on the LNER railway back in the late 1880's," said Melissa as she looked Emily all over.

"How old are you Emily?" Kaede asked.

"I can't say," Emily giggled quietly, "a lady never reveals her age."

Drew and the girls chuckled along to Emily's joke, they didn't hear someone else coming up, "you've got a unique look," that person said. Everyone looked behind them and saw who said that, it was Itsuki.

"You're definetly a one of a kind," Itsuki continued, "and for you that's a good thing. Unlike Mayumi, she's as flat as..."

Itsuki couldn't continue - for Mayumi had smacked him and knocked him out. Everyone remained speechless for a while, "some things never change," sighed Kaede quietly to herself.

The next afternoon, Emily was being parked into the siding next to the wooden platform where Thomas and Primula first met. As she came to a stop, she saw Nerine coming over to talk to her and she wasn't alone.

"Hello Nerine," called Emily, "who's your friend?"

"This is Rin," Nerine answered.

"Hello Emily," Rin said kindly, "Nerine has told me all about you." he then observed Emily. "You are quite a special engine - with one large driving wheel on each side and a shape that shows a lady's elegancy. You are indeed an impressive engine, Emily."

Emily blushed a small shade of red, but now for long..."Humph, that kind of engine is impressive?" sneered a voice. "Really unconvincing coming from Rin!" sneered another voice.

Emily, Nerine and Rin looked up. There, standing on the platform, were three boys, wearing the same uniform as Rin and all bearing snobby looks.

"Don't mind those boys," said Rin. "They're from Nerine's fan club and they don't like anyone who is close with Nerine. I myself suffered the fans' jealousy and hatred countless times before."

"And so has the Little Tokyo Railroad," Nerine added, "they attacked Courtney and Li with eggs once."

The boys snickered as they stared at Emily, "Just look at her, only ONE driving wheel on each side," the third boy snickered. "I doubt if she could pull even ten trucks. Our own Japanese locomotives have more driving wheels than her and can pull very long and heavy trains."

"Look at her shape," the first boy snickered out loud, "Really old fashioned if you ask me. I bet she's old, she's probably older than my grandma!" the boys laughed out loud. Emily felt hurt, she had never heard such rude remarks in all her working life.

Rin tried to help calm her down, "just ignore them Emily."

Before Emily could say anything, a glow of red light appeared around Nerine and lightning sparks began to surround her. Emily was surprised; she had never seen that sweet, kind-hearted, angel-like Nerine she befriended look so angry. The only one who had seen this occur before was Courtney back at the main railway station after the last encounter with the boys.

"I will not let you goons get away with insulting my new friend like that," Nerine said angerily. The skies above them changed from light blue to a dark grey. Lightning shot down and struck on the ground, striking the boys and causing them to writhe in agony. It took about a minute before Nerine stopped.

"What are you trying to do Nerine?" asked the second boy, "are you trying to kill us?"

"That was my intention," said Nerine with a tone in her voice that sounded soft but deadly, "I let you goons off once before when you attacked Courtney and Li - I won't make the same mistake again!" The boys looked over to Nerine, they were scared now! "Don't you worry, it will all be over in a few seconds." And she produced a large glowing orb of light about her height.

"Nerine, don't do it!" shouted Rin, "please stop!" but it was much too late to stop her.

"Now I'm gonna send you straight to oblivion!" shouted Nerine as she fired the orb at the horrified boys.

Li was puffing down the line with a loaded goods train when he heard a large explosion. Looking up, he saw a large smoke cloud emerge from the distance. When he arrived at the scene, he was horrified by what he saw – the wooden platform was almost wrecked, a large crater on the train yard with the platforms and tracks damaged, the boys lying unconscious among the wrecked platform, while Emily was lying on the ground derailed, completely shocked.

"Oh my goodness," Li gasped, "Emily! Are you okay?"

Emily was in too much shock. Luckily for everyone, Nora the Steam powered crane and her operator had seen the explosion and were now on the way. Luke got coupled up to a flatbed and brought it over to the siding.

"What has happened out here?" called a voice. Nerine and Rin looked to the source of the voice and there was the Man in the Suit, he was completely shocked, "Nerine! Rin! Come to my office - NOW!"

He didn't sound too pleased. Nerine and Rin followed the Man in the Suit back to his office while Nora went to work.

"Don't worry Emily," said Nora, "the workmen will have you fixed up in no time."

Again, Emily said nothing.

Nerine and Rin explained everything to the Man in the Suit just as Forbesii, Nerine's father and king of the realm of the demons, had arrived.

"Fortunately, there were no serious casualties as not too many people were at the platform at that time," said the Man in the Suit, trying to remain calm. "But one misstep and this would have been a major catastrophe, and the celebrations would be ruined!"

"I'm sorry sir," Nerine groaned quietly.

"Oh, that's nothing to worry about," said Forbesii, who looked cheerful instead of ashamed. "You should be glad that the damage was minor…"

"What?" the Man in the Suit was in shock, he couldn't believe what he heard, "an entire siding is out of order and half a platform has been destoryed and you call that minor damage!"

"Certainly," said Forbesii, "at least Nerine has known how to control her powers. If she had fully unleashed it, she would have wiped half the city of Tokyo off the map. And all that's left would be a giant crater about five times the size of the one on that platform."

Just hearing this made the Man in the Suit lose his temper.

"THAT'S the main problem," he snapped, banging his fist on the table. "Japan has already experienced that city-wiping out force twice, and most certainly will not want to experience that a third time, especially on the capital city! And we nearly had the main station blown away once before - from what I have heard from Courntey's crew."

Nerine looked down in shame. Sia's father, Eustoma the king of the realm of the gods, came into the office in a cheerful mood. After he was told of what happened, he chuckled loudly, "you should have told me first, then I would have gone there and show those goons some of my own 'love'," said Eustoma. Then he turned to the Man in the Suit. "Now don't you worry, sir. I've dispatched a team of elite magicians down to that plaform to repair it. You'll have your platform up and running again by tomorrow morning. And they'll do the same for Emily too."

The two kings then walked out of the office, leaving a dumbfounded Man in the Suit with Rin to soothe him.

"There are a lot of things in the world that can't be explained logically, you know," said Rin.

"Yes," said the Main in the Suit in a frustrated voice, "I'm aware of that! You two can go - just promise me this won't happen again."

Nerine promised and apologized one more time. Then she and Rin went off to the sheds to find Emily.

The magicians in charge of repairing Emily had completed their work and Thomas had helped her back to the sheds. She had recovered and was once again talking with her friends when Nerine and Rin came to the sheds. Courtney, who was also at the sheds, secretly smirked, as she believed this might spell the end of Nerine and Emily's friendship.

"I'm really sorry for causing all of you to worry about me," Nerine said to the girls.

"Oh, you don't need to apologize Nerine," said Mayumi.

"Yeah! If I was there, I would have used the line of chairs on the platform to knock those boys into next week," added Sia.

"Please don't do that," said Rin.

"I'm sorry that I caused such a mess and almost ruined the celebrations," said Nerine. Then she turned to Emily. "And I'm so sorry that I caused such a fright in front of you. You must be thinking that I am a dangerous monster."

"Well, you did give me a great fright," said Emily. "However, I am grateful that you were willing to stand up for me towards those hooligans."

Nerine looked up, surprised at what Emily just said.

"Well, I do feel sorry that the platform got wrecked and the celebrations almost got ruined," continued Emily. "But I feel a lot better now, thanks to you. You are indeed one true friend, Nerine."

Hearing that, Nerine couldn't help but feel grateful towards Emily. The other girls smiled too.

"I can't believe it," Courtney thought to herself, "Emily witnessed Nerine's powers unleashed first hand and yet she still wants to be Nerine's friend."

Courtney was really cross, "I said it before and I'll say it again - no one steals my friends away and get's away with it. I'll show them all that Emily isn't so great," she looked over to the dark green tender engine, "game on Emily! Game on!"

Of course, she said it only to herself.

_**Backfired Plans**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

As the days went by, Courtney grew crosser and crosser, especially when she saw her friends talking with Emily. "That Emily thinks she's so great just because she's a rare type of engine - she's not that great!"

Courtney was so cross that she bashed her trucks hard - a little too hard! They rolled down the siding and bashed into the buffers.

"Ow!" they cried.

"You need to be more careful Courtney!" called the Man in the Suit, "I don't want anything to ruin the anniversery celebrations."

Courtney heard, but she didn't reply back. Her crew made sure she didn't bump her trucks again, but they couldn't control her anger towards Emily, "what a show-off!" Courtney muttered crossly.

As she continued with her shunting, she could hear Emily and the Tokyo girls talking and laughing, Nerine was laughing the loudest out of anyone there. This made her crosser than ever before.

"She's got to go!" Courtney snorted angerily.

A little later, Courtney was being parked next to the wooden platform, which had just been restored thanks to the magicians sent by Eustoma. Her crew were walking off to get themselves some lunch before returning to work.

As she waited, Courtney saw Emily puff past with a loaded goods train for the warehouse district.

"You've got a beautiful railway here Courtney!" Emily called as she puffed past.

Courtney grunted in reply as she watched the tail end of Emily's train pass. "Wanna get rid of her?" snickered a voice. Courtney looked to the direction of the voice, there were the same three boys from before, they had recovered from the blast and now they were mad too.

"If it wasn't for that Emily, Nerine would never've blasted us," said the second boy.

"I refuse to help you fools," Courtney snapped crossly, "you threw eggs on me once."

"Well we're sorry," said the third boy, he was actually lying, "we think you are one of the best engines this railroad's ever seen. That Emily has no right to come around here and take away your title."

"In fact," added the first boy, "if you would like, we can teach that Emily a lesson she won't forget - she'll be left out of the anniversery party while you regain your title back."

"Well..." Courtney thought about it, then she gave the boys an answer, "you can help me, but - I have to ask you to leave the rest of the railroad, Rin and Nerine alone."

"We promise," said all the boys in unison.

Courtney smirked quietly to herself. What she didn't know was that the stupid boys had their fingers crossed behind their backs, which meant they weren't telling Courtney the entire truth.

They hurried off just as Courtney's crew came back.

"Were those the same troublesome boys from before?" asked her Driver.

"Nope, they were some other students from Nerine's school. They wanted to talk to me," Courtney lied to her crew. The crew suspected nothing, so once they were back in the cab, they set off back to work.

The next morning, Courtney was brought out of the sheds first to be prepared for the day's work. As she came out, she looked and saw the boys walking over towards her, they told her their plan. Courtney smirked quietly as she looked back over to Emily, who was being brought out of the sheds while the boys ran off.

"Hey Emily, I got an important message for you from the Man in the Suit. When you return from the warehouse district with your next train, you are to push your trucks."

"What? Why's that?"

"He wants to put on a show for the crowds. He wants you to push your train of trucks while Li and I doublehead a train later."

"But why didn't he tell me this in person?"

"He was very busy, so he asked me to tell you."

"Oh okay then, thanks for telling me Courtney," once she had steam up, Emily puffed on her way to collect her train. She hadn't noticed the smirk that came across Courtney's face.

The plan was simple, according to what the boys told Courtney. One of the boys would sneak into one of the vans Emily was to take, then once at the warehouse district, they would wait until the crew had coupled Emily up to her train - they would then uncouple her when no one was looking. The other boys would greese the rails, which would make the train slip away from Emily and roll into a set of buffers, demolishing them and damaging the trucks.

Two of the boys waited by the wooden platform and waited for Emily to leave, then they went to work.

"I hope we don't get caught again," said the first boy.

"We'll be fine," said the second boy, "stop being a little worry wart."

What they didn't know was that they were being watched by Thomas, who was shunting in the yards, "what are those silly boys up to now?" he thought to himself.

When she reached the district, Emily shunted her trucks into place and coupled onto the back end. Ken was confused and asked why she was coupling on behind.

"It's the Man in the Suit's orders," she said, "he wants to put a show on for the people of Tokyo."

Ken was slightly confused, but he didn't argue aganist the plan. While the two engines were talking, the third boy snuck out of one of the vans and walked over towards Emily. He fiddled around with her coupling, without getting spotted once, then he ran towards the nearest exit.

"Okay Emily," called Masuko, "your trucks are all ready to go back!"

"Right," said Emily.

Her Driver opened the regulator, blew the whistle and Emily puffed out of the warehouse district. She whistled a lot to get everyone's attention, people waved to her, but they were surprised to see her at the end of the train.

Netiher Emily nor her crew knew of the danger that was coming...

As they reached the yards, Emily felt something wet under her wheels - before she and her crew could react, her wheels started slipping and her speed started to go down.

"What's going on?" Emily cried.

Her Driver and fireman tried everything they could, but it did no good. Worst still, her train was now running away from her and running towards the yards.

"Oh no!" cried the Driver, he blew the whistle loud and long.

Courtney, who was taking on water, heard the whistle, "the plan is working perfectly, Emily is going to get into trouble."

Her smile wasn't going to last long when she heard, "Those trucks are coming off the tracks!" Courtney looked and sure enough, some of Emily's trucks were coming off the tracks, but they were still rolling along.

They then started to go in different directions - right to the station. "RUN!" shouted the stationmaster threw the speakers.

The passengers ran away from the station as quickly as they could as the trucks smashed into the station. The noise was loud that much was for sure with screaming people and trucks smashing the beams of the station and the walls.

"That wasn't part of the plan," Courtney groaned to herself.

After a minute or two, the smashing and crashing sounds had vanished. Courtney looked to the station, there were broken trucks everywhere and smashed windows, beams and bricks too.

The Man in the Suit, along with Nerine and Sia, came over to see what happened. They were in shock, "Oh my goodness," gasped the Man in the Suit.

"Deary me," gasped Sia, Nerine was at a loss of words and so was Courtney.

The Stationmaster came over to talk with the Man in the Suit, "I don't know how this could've happened," he said, "but you'll be happy to know that no one is seriously hurt."

Emily soon arrived, she was in shock of what happened. She helped out by moving the damaged trucks away after Nora put them back on track. Once the mess was cleared, Emily's crew talked to the Man in the Suit.

They soon came back to talk with the engines, "I don't know where you heard that I wanted Emily to push her train," he said while looking over to Courtney, "I did _not _want that at all."

Emily looked over to Courtney. "Well you told me sir," said Courtney, "you came to me yesterday."

"Really? I don't remember saying that - maybe my memory is going."

"Sir," Thomas piped up, "you might be interested to know that Emily's accident might've been caused by those same three boys from before. I saw two of them put something on the tracks, I bet you that the third one was riding in one of Emily's vans like Sakura did."

"In that case, if any of you see those boys, come tell me and I'll deal with them. I'll find out why they did this, I won't let them or anyone who was involved in this plan off the hook that easily."

"We promise to help sir," the engines and their friends said in unison.

None of them knew that Courtney had a worried look on her face, "Now I'm in trouble."

**Author's Note:**

The accident at the main Little Tokyo Railway station was based on the All time Sensational railway wreck in Washington D.C. in 1953. A Passenger train was loaded with passengers, Pennsylvania Railroad's Federal Express sped out of control and headed straight for a dead end of the Captial's classical marble station. The passenger train smashed through the station and into the main concourse, the floor collapsed under the weight of the train. Luckily, no one was killed in this serious accident.

_**Guilty Conscience**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000 & Anime Boy**_

As the day of the celebration grew closer and closer, every engine, worker and their friends kept an eye out for the three troublesome boys. Courtney saw one of them, but didn't say anything to her crew.

"If those boys are caught, they'll tell the Man in the Suit that I helped them with their plan," Courtney thought unhappily to herself, "I can't let them get caught." Courtney was now regreting ever helping the troublesome boys.

When she came to the warehouse district, she saw Ken's Driver - with one of the boys.

"I caught him sneaking around here," he said, "I think he's one of the boys who caused that serious accident at the station."

"I'll inform the police right away," said the workshop manager. Courtney gulped as she looked over to the boy, he didn't look scared at all, he looked pleased with himself.

"You'll never get me to talk," he shouted, "I will never tell you anything!"

"Maybe so," said Ken's Driver firmly, "but I'm sure your buddies will say something."

"Never," the boy snickered as he looked over to Courtney and winked. Courtney looked away as if she didn't know the guy.

The Man in the Suit came by to the sheds the next morning, along with Nerine standing close by, "the police have caught the second boy, but he won't say anything either."

"So that means more waiting until the third boy is caught," said Thomas quietly.

"Indeed," said the Man in the Suit, "so remember - keep your eyes open."

With that said, the Man in the Suit walked away. Nerine stayed behind to talk with the engines, she could see that Courtney was looking worried, "what's wrong Courtney?" she asked, "it's not like the accident was your fault."

"Right," Courtney said, but very quietly.

"I don't know why they cause my train to crash," Emily spoke up, "I didn't do anything wrong here, did I?"

"Of course not," Li answered, "it's just those boys, they like to behave badly - come to think of it, that's true with Kaede's and Sia's fan-clubs."

"Then why? Words are one thing - but to cause a serious accident, that's going over the line."

Courtney was soon out on the main line with a loaded goods train for the district, she could see the third boy walking along on the city streets. He looked over to Courtney and winked at her. Courtney didn't tell her crew that the boy was close by.

"I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing here," Courtney thought to herself, "cause it sure doesn't feel like it."

"Are you okay Courtney?" asked her Driver, "you're being unusually quiet."

"Yeah I'm fine Driver," she lied.

Lying right then and there made Courtney feel worse than before, it was like her own conscience was telling her that she had done the wrong thing. Courtney didn't like this feeling at all, but she knew that if she told the truth, she would be in deep trouble with the Man in the Suit.

"Hello Courtney!" called Sia as the japanese engine roll on past a level crossing. Courtney didn't answer her back, she remained quiet, "I wonder what's wrong with Courtney," Sia thought to herself.

She wasn't the only one concerned, the engines and their friends were all wondering what was wrong with Courtney.

Courtney's train that afternoon was full of supplies to help repair the damaged station. When she arrived, she found the third boy in handcuffs.

"We caught this little sneak sneaking around the station," said the police officer, "it's a good thing the Man in the Suit asked me to keep an eye out for him - now we'll find out if he and his buddies were involved in that accident."

The boy looked over to Courtney and winked, Courtney looked away again.

"Do you really think you will get me to talk?" the boy snickered, "just like my buddies, I won't say a single word."

The officer took the boy away from the station, the foolish boy still had that smirk on his face.

Courtney was uncoupled from the trucks and was taken over to the dockyards.

She did some shunting, but she was moving slowly, so the shunting took a long time to do. The Driver and fireman were very concerned, "I wonder what the matter could be," said the fireman, "her steam preasure is good, but she's still moving slowly."

"It's probably because of the accident," said the Driver, "Courtney saw the worst of it, remember?"

When Courtney heard her Driver mention the accident, she couldn't take anymore, she came to a stop and refused to move.

"What's the matter now?" the Driver asked, "Why did you stop Courtney?"

Emily was also working in the dockyards, she was surprised to see Courtney stop shunting. Courtney was crying at that moment, her conscience was getting the better of her, "it's all my fault!" she cried out loud, "it's because of me that Emily's train crashed into the station!"

"What?" Emily shouted in shock, but she wasn't alone. Nerine was nearby and had heard everything. Emily's Driver brought his engine up till she was beside the crying japanese engine, "You were responable for the accident?"

"I never meant for this to happen," Courtney sobbed, "I just wanted you to be sent back to Sodor."

"But why?"

"I didn't like the way you were talking to my friends and stealing them," Courtney continued, Emily looked shocked when she hear say that, "So that's why I did what I did, but I never meant for everything to get out of control."

Courtney continued to cry, she expecting to hear her crew, Emily and Nerine yell at her while hearing Rick laughing at her for what she did.

"Why did you think I was stealing your friends?" Emily asked after a short silence.

"Isn't it obvious?" Courtney asked while still crying, "you're more popular than I am, you managed to get so many friends in less than a few hours, it took me a long time to become everyone's friend. I thought they wanted to be with you more than me."

"But not's true, I'm only a visiting friend, just like Thomas, Percy or any of the Sodor engines. They need you more than me."

"No, no they don't - they want a friend like you. Especially Nerine, I know she likes you better than me, I'm a piece of scrap to her now."

"That's not true!" said Nerine as she walked up to her friend, "Courtney, you'll always be my best friend, cause no matter where I am, I know there's someone who really understands me, like you."  
"Really?"  
"Of course, you're my friend, mostly because I care alot about you and no other engine can have that bond of friendship that we have, maybe a simple friendship but not the ties of friendship."

"You're one lucky engine, Courtney," smiled Emily, "you have one special friend who thinks the world of you and of course you have other friends too, I could never replace you."

Just hearing those kind words made Courtney feel better at once. She then spoke to her crew, "can you go get the Man in the Suit, I have something important to say to him."

"Right away Courtney," said her Driver as he walked down from the cab.

Rick _was_ going to say something rude, but when he saw the looks on Nerine's and Emily's faces, he felt that now was not the best time to say a word. After a few minutes, the Driver returned with the Man in the Suit. Courtney told him everything about the plan and why she did it.

"Sir, I know that I've been acting like a jerk recently," said Courtney, all the while looking down with shame. "But I'm truly sorry for what I've done. I guess I've been a disgrace to the Little Tokyo Railroad, haven't I?"

"That's not true," said the Man in the Suit, "Courtney, I've always thought of you as a special engine of my line, there's no one like you in the world."  
"That much is for sure," added Courtney's Driver kindly.  
"And while at times, you may not be my best working engine, it does not mean that you're my least favorite engine. You are strong, full of passion and you have a kind heart, those there are what an engine needs to be really useful."

"So can I still help with the celebration party?"  
"No," replied the Man in the Suit. Courtney looked down again, "I want you to pull the special train on that day, Courtney!"

Courtney beamed with pride when she heard that. And from that point onwards, Courtney worked happily alongside with the other engines, and that included Emily. They soon became good friends, they worked wonderfully together and at night they would tell plenty of interesting stories to each other, and to their friends too.

The station was soon repaired and just in time too as the day of the celebration finally arrived. The celebration was a great success, the Man in the Suit couldn't have more proud of his engines and railway and even said so. This was indeed one celebration to remember.

Everyone was sad when Emily had to leave the next day, all those who could came to see her off. Courtney blew a whislte salute to Emily just as she was being lifted off the ground by Rick, "till the next time we meet, take care of yourself my friend!" Courtney called. Emily smiled happily.

Still, I bet you're wondering about those boys right? Well - after Courtney told the Man in the Suit of their plan, he phoned the police and now the boys are charged with damage to the station and had to work on the railroad to help pay off the damages. Maybe next time they'll think before trying anything stupid again, well - we can only hope that they will.

_**The End!**_


	16. Thomas the Lonely Engine

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 16**_

_**Thomas the Lonely Engine**_

_**Based on the Original "2009" Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_I was orginally planning on writing a book called 'Thomas the Little Tokyo Engine', but after hearing about the most recent events, I felt it best to change the title. Our friend Thomas has learned quite a bit about a couple of his friends in the city of Tokyo, starting with a brake van that used to work with Percy and then about Primula, the mysterious little girl from the realm of the demons. After hearing this, I decided it was better to call this book 'Thomas the Lonely Engine', as you'll soon find out why._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Mr. Pyro

-Marigold

-It's Ice

-Goodbye Primula

_**Mr. Pyro**_

It was a quiet evening in the small neighbourhood Kaede and her friends live at, both Rin and Kaede were playing some video games together while Primula watched, as usual she was being quiet again. It was peaceful and quiet, apart from the video game playing - but the peaceful evening was about to ruined by a few loud bangs.

"What was that?" Kaede asked nervously.

"I don't believe this," Rin groaned, he paused the game, got up and looked out the living room window, "it's one of our neighbours again."

Kaede got up and looked, both she and Rin could see lots of fireworks in the sky, they were being fired from one of the nearby houses. Both of them stepped outside and looked over to the next neighbourhood.

"It's Mr. Pyro again," said Rin crossly, "that's the seventh time this month he's done this."

"He did it thirteen times last month," said Kaede as she looked up to the fireworks.

Mr. Pyro, otherwise known as Mr. Jun Nakata, is a firework's collector. According to everyone in the nearby neigbourhoods, he has a huge collection in both his house and a bigger one in his yard. He fires off fireworks nearly every night every month.

"We've complained about that guy hundreds of times," said Rin, "and yet the police won't do anything to put a stop to the firework's show."

"How long have you guys been complaining about this guy?" called a voice from nearby, it was Sia.

"We've been complaining for a couple of years now," Rin answered, Kaede nodded her head in agreement, then she, Rin and Sia looked back up see more fireworks in the night sky, "and we're not alone. Before you and Nerine moved in, our neighbours would call in alot of times because of Mr. Pyro."

"Why do you call him Mr. Pyro?" Primula asked as she stood near the doorway with her toy cats in her arms.

"It's the name our neighbours made up for him," said Kaede, "we don't know why they called him 'Mr. Pyro'."

Just then another firework exploded with a loud big boom, "I like fireworks as much as the next person," said Rin, "but I like watching them every now and then on a special occassion, not almost every single night."

Rin and the girls went quiet as they heard their neighbours shouting at Mr. Pyro.

"Will you stop firing off those fireworks?" they shouted angerily, "our kids are trying to sleep!"

Mr. Pyro just ignored them and went on firing off the fireworks. Many of his neighbours called the police...again! But even an hour later, there were no police officers and Mr. Pyro continued to fire off the fireworks.

Even at around Midnight, he just would not stop.

Kaede and Rin stepped out again to see the fireworks, they were upset about being woken up and they weren't alone - Nerine was up too and she didn't look too happy.

"Will you go to bed already?" she shouted angerily, "we're trying to sleep!"

The reply that came back was short but not sweet.

"How rude," gasped Nerine.

"You can yell at him all you want," Rin called over to Nerine, "but he won't stop - trust me, many of our neighbours have shouted at him late at night, yet he doesn't stop."

The fireworks show went on all night long, Mr. Pyro was having too much fun for his own good. He got more and more reckless as the night went on.

Even the kings got cross and yelled at Mr. Pyro, but he ignored them and fired off more fireworks.

"Is he still firing off those fireworks?" Rin asked at around four thirty in the morning.

This was around the time that Kaede usually got up, "yes he's _still_ firing off those fireworks," she answered, "did you get any sleep last night?"

"Only a little bit, what about you?"

"I didn't much sleep either - I think Rimu is the only one that got a good night sleep."

"Lucky girl," Rin said quietly.

Kaede went over to Primula's door to check up on her. Sure enough, the little purple haired girl was still fast asleep while her toy cats sat next to her.

All of the sudden, they all heard a loud 'BOOM!' Primula woke up with a start, while Rin and Kaede jumped in surprise, "What was that?" they said in unison.

Kaede ran over to Primula's window and looked outside, she could smoke in the distance.

"It's a fire!" she cried, "coming from one of our neighbour's houses - it's Mr. Pyro's house!"

Rin ran back to his room and called for the fire department and once again, he called the police. Then both he and Kaede ran downstairs and outside, they were in for a shock. Mr. Pyro's house was on fire while fireworks fired from all directions, the explosion had blown away most of the stuff in his house - Kaede found that out when she saw a burned up television in the yard.

In Sia's yard, was a couch, "that was a big explosion," she said, "I'm glad it landed here, it could've seriously hurt one of us!"

"So where is Mr. Pyro?" asked Rin.

Nerine pointed to where Mr. Pyro was, he was trying to spray water onto the fires, but he wasn't having any luck. Many of the neighbours shouted at him, "we asked you to stop, but you didn't listen to us."

"Oh be quiet!" Mr. Pyro snapped back.

At that moment, the fire bargade arrived along with the police. As they went to work, the neighbours shouted again, "We've been telling you guys about this man, and it takes a serious explosion like this to bring you here!"

The police didn't say anything, they were ashamed for not coming sooner.

The firemen went to work, the fires were intense, but they were winning the battle, that was until one of the firemen came up, "according to this man, there are even more fireworks in the house, we have to get that box out!"

So while some of the firemen dealt with the fire, others went in to get the remaining fireworks. Everyone waited and waited, then a few minutes later, the firemen came out with the box of unlit fireworks.

An hour later, the fire was finally out and there were about five crates full of unlit fireworks left. The police spoke to Mr. Pyro, "you do know that what you did was stupid and completely dangerous right?" one of the officers asked.

"No, it's great fun - these people don't know when to have fun..."

"You call blowing up your own house fun?" shouted one of the neighbours, "our houses would probably be up in flames right now!" Then they looked at the officers.

"Sorry for not checking on this man earlier," a second officer said, then he focused his attention on the man, "you are under arrest, for distrubing the peace and for endangering lives."

"Oh bother," groaned the man as the handcuffs were put on.

Mr. Pyro was then taken away to the police station, while the fireman did some demolition of the house, since it had been badly damaged from the fires.

When daylight came, all that was left of the house was burned grass and a driveway. The damaged appliances and furniture were sent away to the junkyard to be broken up.

"The good news is now we don't have to deal with Mr. Pyro again," said Sia.

"True," agreed Rin, "maybe now we can get some sleep at night."

"We're lucky," said Kaede, everyone looked over to her, "it's like Sia said, we could've gotten seriously hurt by the flying appliances and the furniture."

"Yeah you're right Kaede," said Nerine, "we are very lucky, hopefully we won't get a neighbour like Mr. Pyro again."

Everyone agreed to that.

Later that day, Nerine told the whole story to Courtney, who of course the other engines that night, "that man should've remembered something important," said Li.

"What's that?" asked Luke.

"Be careful around fires or you will get burned."

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by the real life events of a real Mr. Pyro, who was collecting fireworks and firing them off in the night. His neighbours called the police every night for a few years, but still they wouldn't come to the house, so Mr. Pyro's antics continued on for a long time. That was until his house exploded after he 'accidently' lit some fireworks inside the house, luckily no one was hurt. When the police arrived, they were greeted by angry yells from the neighbours and Mr. Pyro was charged for endangerment and for distrubing the peace. When and where it happened is unknown.

_**Marigold**_

A couple of days after the incident with Mr. Pyro, Thomas was puffing along to the warehouse district with a loaded goods train. He had been asked by the Man in the Suit to bring back a loaded coal train and a special that was waiting there.

He soon arrived at the shops where Ken could be seen shunting some trucks with knuckle couplings, Masuko rattled over, "perfect timing as always Thomas," he said happily, "your train is waiting on the third line to your right, your special is at the front."

Thomas looked to the third line, he could see the train and a brake van - on the front end.

"Ah Masuko, I think there's a little mistake, brake vans are suppose to go to the back of the train, not the front."

Masuko chuckled, "that's true Thomas, but that brakevan _is _yourspecial. Her name is Marigold, she's just been restored after being in pieces for many years."

"Whatever happened to her?" Thomas asked.

"Come on Thomas," said his Driver, "let's get you turned around, then we'll couple up to the train."

So without saying another word, Thomas puffed off to find a turntable. Now, tank engines don't normally have to be turned around, but with the busy city streets just outside, the Man in the Suit has made a rule stating that all engines are to run forwards, never backwards.

After getting turned around, Thomas was coupled up to the train. Once he heard the guard's whistle blow, he puffed slowly out of the shops.

"Tell me young engine," the brake van behind him spoke up, "where did you come from?"

"I came from the Island of Sodor, I'm one of the many engines on the Fat Controller's North Western Railway fleet. My name is Thomas by the way."

"It's nice to meet you Thomas, my name is Marigold, I also came from the Island of Sodor."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Well I was sent here to be repaired and put back into work for the Man in the Suit's Little Tokyo Railway. I think it's quite a nice line," Marigold went on happily, "it'll be such an honor to run along with a goods trains again. I haven't run behind goods trains for over fifty years."

"That's quite a long time," Thomas' fireman said quietly.

"Masuko the crane said you came here in pieces, whatever happened?"

Marigold sighed as she looked around and then down to the tracks, "over fifty years ago, I was one of many brakevans that stood outside of a big shed, filled with lots of steam engines, big ones and small ones. Whenever one of the new engines were taken out for test runs and they were to take a train, one of us would be picked, I was often chosen for the job. My owner said I had more experience than some of the other brakevans, but he only ever said it quietly to me when no one was around."

Thomas chuckled very quietly, but went silent as Marigold continued.

"I was very happy during that time, I always got to meet someone new almost every single day, from engines to yard workers and even engine crews - oh yes, those were good times," she sighed happily and closed her eyes, remembering the good old days.

"She almost sounds like Trevor," Thomas thought to himself.

Then he spoke up to her, "so what happened to you? You were replaced by a new set of brakevans."

"Oh no, that's not the reason I was in pieces my dear Thomas," she said, opening her eyes at once, "I was in pieces because I was involved in an accident."

"An accident?" Thomas asked.

"Yes," Marigold said quietly and looked down to her buffers, she sighed, then she told Thomas what happened, "it was like any other day, I was to be on the tail end of a small goods train pulled by a green saddletank engine..."

"Percy!" Thomas gasped.

"I beg your pardon?" Marigold asked.

"The engine on the front of your train, I think it was my friend Percy, he's a green saddletank engine."

"So _that_ is his name," Marigold smiled. Thomas apologized for interupting and Marigold continued with her story, "anyways, the little green engine shunted the trucks and me into place carefully and then went to the front end of the train. Once all the couplings were attached, we set out on our way."

"The journey went well," Marigold went on, "we had a clear line ahead of us and the little engine, Percy as you call him, had a good head of steam. Everything was going well, but not for long..."

"We passed at caution, then I noticed that the train was slowing down. There was another train coming through and we had to clear the line. I knew that siding we were going into, it was short, but still long enough for us to fit in, but the whole train didn't go into the siding."

"Why?" Thomas asked curiously.

"Well, it was a tractor, it was blocking the tracks, it's owner was in a very bad mood and didn't want to move his tractor, I believe it was because he was overworked and got no rest..."

Thomas was about to say that the tractor's owner reminded him about the main line engines, James, Henry and Gordon, but he felt it best not to interupte again.

"The engine's crew yelled at him to get off the tracks, but he would not move," Marigold continued, "and that's when I heard it, an upcoming passenger train was coming straight towards - me!"

"I screamed and shouted, the little engine yelled too, but by the time anyone could do anything, it was much too late..."

"The main line engine came closer and closer to me, I shut my eyes while my guard jumped out and I braced myself for impact - the main line engine smashed right into me, I broke into pieces."

" 'I hope you're happy with yourself!' I could hear the driver yell at the tractor's owner, 'you destoryed a valuable brakevan, just wait till the workshop manager hears about this, he's not going to be pleased.' And indeed he wasn't, last I heard, he scolded the tractor's owner badly and make him pay for the damage caused to me."

"Hold on a second," Thomas spoke up, "you said that the manager thought you were a valuable brakevan, so why didn't he have you repaired?"

"Well Thomas, the main reason was because no one had the time to repair me at first, they were all too busy making sure the young tender and tank engines were ready to be sold. When they _did_ get the time, they had already bought smart new brakevans, they were far more reliable than me, so I was left in the back of the shops, unable to speak and unable to move."

"Then most recently," she continued, "I was brought out of the workshops after being put onto a flatbed, then I was taken to the dockyards and lifted onto a ship. I was confused, until the day I arrived, a man wearing a fancy suit came up to me."

"The Man in the Suit," Thomas' Driver said quietly.

"He said he heard about me from Sir Topham Hatt, your Fat Controller, who heard all about it from an engine who used to live at those shops. The Man in the Suit said I was going to be sent to the workshops to be restored and then put back into work for his railway. It wasn't an easy job for the workers of the warehouse district, most of my wood had been destoryed by the main line engine that crashed into me, so they had to replace that wood with Jobi wood."

"Jobi Wood?" Thomas asked.

"Yes, Jobi wood is very strong my dear Thomas, no gale force winds can break it or knock it down."

"I learn something new everyday," Thomas chuckled quietly to himself.

"Since I had been damaged badly, the workers had to replace my doors, wheels, framework and even my windows. They worked hard for months until at last I looked like a brand new brakevan again."

Thomas and his train soon arrived at the yards, he shunted his trucks into a siding, then he took Marigold and the other brake van that had been at the tail end of the train over to a siding for brake vans.

"Say Thomas, when you go back to Sodor, can you do me a special favour?"

"What is it?"

"Can you tell that little green saddletank engine that I said hello?"

"Sure Marigold," Thomas smiled, "I'll tell Percy as soon as I return home. Oh and thank you for telling me that story," as he was backing away, he added, "I hope we can work together again soon."

"Oh I'm sure we will my dear Thomas."

Once Thomas was out of sight, Marigold looked out to the ocean and sighed happily, "at least now I know that little engine's name," she thought happily to herself, "I hope I can meet up with him again someday."

_**It's Ice!**_

The summer holidays were almost over, which meant every kid and teenager would have to go back to school very soon. On a beautiful summer morning, Rin, Sia and Nerine were working on their summer homework while Kaede and Primula did some housework. The day was perfect, but that was soon to change...

"Thank you for helping me with the housework today Rimu," Kaede said kindly to her.

"You're welcome," she said in her quiet voice, then she looked to the counter, "What are you doing?"

"I'm making lunch for Rin," Kaede answered happily, "he's going to be out all day today."

"What's he doing?"

"He's going to be doing some art sketches for our art class."

"You really like doing this kind of stuff don't you?"

"Well of course I do," Kaede said with a smile on her face, "I need to take care of something else right now, could you fill up the thermos?"

"Sure," Primula said quietly. So while Kaede went off to do some other household chores, Primula filled up the thermos. She was almost done filling it up when suddenly - the coffee turned to ice! Primula closed her eyes for a split second and looked down, the coffee had turned back into a liquid. "What just happened?" she said quietly to herself.

Down at the Little Tokyo Railroad, Thomas was shunting trucks today, he didn't mind the work at all, he liked working with the japanese trucks. As he was shunting, he could see Asa walking past the crossroads.

"Hello Thomas!" she called and waved happily as she walked past.

Thomas' Driver pulled on the whistle cord while Thomas called out, "Hello Asa!"

Asa continued waving until she was out of sight, just as the Man in the Suit came over, "Thomas, I need you to take some empty vans to the warehouse district, then I need you to bring up back a loaded coal train."

"Yes sir," said Thomas as he puffed off to collect the vans.

He soon found the vans and was coupled to the front end of the train. Marigold was at the back of the train today. Once the train was ready, the guard blew his whistle and Thomas puffed away.

As he puffed along down the line, he and Marigold had another friendly chat about the Little Tokyo Railroad and Thomas' branch line back on Sodor.

Back at the Fuyou house, Primula was looking at her reflection in the mirror, "everything seems okay," she thought to herself, "but still..."

"Are you feeling okay Rimu?" Kaede called out to her, she was just down the hallway making her bed.

"I'm okay," Primula called back.

After a minute or so, she went back to her room and picked up her new toy cat. She patted it softly on top of it's head. A minute later, Kaede came over to her room.

"Would you like to go see Thomas at work?" she asked.

"Yes I would."

"Okay, we'll go after I'm done washing the dishes."

"I'll help you Kaede," Primula left her toy cat on the bed and followed Kaede downstairs.

Elsewhere, Rin was doing a picture of a creek near a roadway bridge. He was almost done when he heard, "so this is where you are," he knew that voice, it was Asa Shigure, "what are you doing Rin?"

"I'm just doing an art sketch for art class, once this done, then I will have finished all my summer homework."

"That's good to know, still though," she added with a chuckle, "you shouldn't have left your summer homework to the last minute. I finished mine months ago."

"Yeah I know I shouldn't have left it to the last minute," Rin sighed, "but at least I'm getting it done instead of not doing it."

"That's true."

"So where were you this morning?"

"Well let's see, I went down to the new amusement park this morning, only three of the engines were running this time," she then looked over to Rin with a teasing look, "why do you ask Rin?"

"I'm just curious that's all."

"Okay then," she giggled and slapped poor Rin on the back again.

At the warehouse district, the last of Thomas' coal trucks were being loaded up by Masuko, "okay Thomas, that should do it!" called the shop crane, "you're good to go!"

"Thanks Masuko," Thomas called back as he pulled out of the shop.

"It sure is a beautiful day today, don't you think so?" Thomas' Driver asked.

"Speak for yourself," groaned the fireman, "I'm working with a blazing fire here, I'm sweating buckets in this cab."

"Don't worry yourself," the Driver chuckled, "when we get back to the yards, I'll go get you some ice cream, will that help?"

"You better make it two ice creams."

Both the Driver and Thomas chuckled as they left the city streets behind them and onto the open main line, passing Li as he waited in the siding.

At the main station, Kaede and Primula were waiting for Thomas to arrive. Kaede kept a good look out for Thomas while Primula stared at some marigolds in the flower box, "they're beautiful," she said quietly to herself.

Asa and Rin were not too far from the railyards, they wanted to see some of the trains pass by before they reached the arcade.

"You two are so cute together," called another voice, it belonged to Kareha, "are you two dating?"

"No, we're just hanging out together," Rin answered.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you that boys and girls can hang out together without it making it a date," Asa said to Kareha. Kareha wasn't listening.

Whenever she thinks about a boy and a girl going out together, she starts glowing and starts saying 'oh la la', in other words, she was lost in her own little world again.

"And she's gone again," Rin and Asa said in unison.

They decided to leave Kareha alone, "she'll snap out of it soon enough," Asa was saying to Rin, she had seen Kareha do that countless times in the past and knew that she would snap back to reality soon.

Thomas' whistle could be heard even from the railyards, he was getting closer. Courtney pulled up to the second platform with a loaded goods train, she was waiting for Thomas to come into the yards, then she could go.

"Right on time," said her Driver as he checked his watch, "we'll be on our way soon."

"Here he comes Rimu!" Kaede called to the young purple haired girl.

"I'm coming!" she called, but that's when the trouble began. Primula took one last look at the flowers, then without warning, they turned to ice, "Wha..." Primula began, she wasn't feeling well.

"Rimu?" Kaede called over to her, "Are you okay?"

"I don't feel well Kaede," she groaned, she fell to her knees and touched the platform, ice formed all around her. Her eyes then focused down to the train tracks, ice appeared out of nowhere, covering the rails - and the sand that sat on top of them.

Thomas' whistle sounded again as he drew into the station, Courtney blasted her whistle loud and long, "slow down Thomas!" she cried, "There's ice on your tracks!"

"What was that?" Thomas called, "there's what on my tracks?"

"ICE!" the fireman exclaimed, "apply the brakes!"

The Driver didn't need telling twice, he pulled on the brake handle and held on tight, "impossible," said Thomas, "it's still summer, so there shouldn't..." Thomas was interupted as he slid on the ice, "whoa! Cinders and ashes!" he cried.

Thomas was out of control, he slid past the station at great speeds. Luckily for Thomas, a shunter saw him coming and changed the points for a special set of tracks called 'Trap Points'. Thomas' wheels left the rails as he ran over the points, then he stopped.

"What just happened?" he asked.

Primula was looking down at the tracks, she groaned and whispered, "I'm sorry," then she passed out, right then and there on the platform.

_**Goodbye Primula**_

Primula was taken back to the Fuyou house, Kaede checked her temperature, "she's got a cold," she said to Rin.

Primula opened her eyes and looked over to Rin and Kaede, "I'm sorry about what happened at the station," she groaned quietly, "how's Thomas?"

"He's okay," Rin answered, "he was a little shocked by what happened, but luckily no serious damage was done to him or to the station."

"Rimu, why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well before we left?" Kaede asked kindly.

"I wasn't feeling that bad when we left," Primula answered, "it just came up at the last second."

"It can happen," Rin said in agreement, "now Primula, I want you to do me a little favour and get some rest okay? Once you're better, we'll take you back to the Little Tokyo Railroad okay?"

"Okay," she answered.

Rin placed both of Primula's toy cats to the left side of her pillow, Primula showed a small smile, then she closed her eyes and went off to sleep.

"I'll make some soup for her," Kaede whispered to Rin.

"Good idea Kaede, that will help her get better."

A little later, Rin was at the Little Tokyo Railroad sheds talking with Thomas while the crew checked their tank engine over. Rin told Thomas that Primula has a cold.

"That's the first time I've ever seen anyone turn their surrondings into ice," said Thomas.

"Well don't forget Thomas," said his Driver, "we don't know that much about the beings of the two realms, maybe that's what happens when they get sick."

"Come to think of it," Rin said out loud, "I don't know which realm Primula comes from. She has short ears like Sia does, but she has powers like Nerine does."

"Maybe she's a mixture of both," Thomas suggested.

"Yeah that's probably it," Rin said in agreement.

"You're right there Thomas," said another voice. Rin, Thomas and his crew looked over to the doorway and saw Eustoma and Forbesii standing close by with serious looks on their faces.

"What do you mean that I am right," Thomas asked.

"Primula is being of both realms," answered Eustoma, "But she is not a god, a demon or a human."

"Then what is she?" Rin asked.

"She's an artificial lifeform," Forbesii answered this time, "she's part of a project we started up years old. The project has had it's various," he coughed before continuing, "disasters. The first test subject...well, let's just say that the first time isn't always the charm."

"Why, what did she do?" Thomas' fireman asked.

"Well she...destoryed everything in the lab, enough said," Forbesii answered quietly. Now Thomas' fireman was wishing that he didn't ask that question at all.

"The second test subject was a clone of a certain being you know Rin," added Eustoma.

"Nerine," he gasped.

"That's correct, then there was Primula, she's the third artificial life form. Third time was definetly the charm or so we thought," said Forbesii as he looked back over to the station. The platform and tracks were still covered in ice, "tell me Rin, does she have a high fever?"

"Yes she does."

"I thought so," Forbesii sighed as he looked down to the ballast, "we have to take her back."

"No," Thomas gasped with worry.

"Why? All she needs is a good night's rest then she'll be as good as new," said Rin, he too was shocked by what the kings said to him.

"We're not sure if that is true Rin," said Eustoma, "maybe you're right and that's all she needs, but then again - maybe she won't get better, there's a good chance that she may not wake up tomorrow. You have to let us take her back."

"We'll see," Rin said quietly, he was secretly hoping that Primula was going to be okay.

The kings left without saying a word. Rin said good night to Thomas, then he headed off back to the Fuyou house, "do you really think they'll take Primula back?" Thomas asked his crew.

"I don't know Thomas," said his Driver, "there's a good chance they might, then again - there's a good chance they won't."

Rin soon returned back to the house, he told Kaede what the king's told him. Starting with Primula's past and what they said afterwords, "I won't go!" Primula said firmly, "I don't want to go back."

"I know you don't," Rin said kindly to her, "trust me, I don't want to see you go either, but if your condition gets worse, then..."

"No, I won't go! I don't want to leave!" she turned to her right and covered her face with the blanket, "I want to stay here with you Rin!"

There was silence in the room for a while, "that will be a last resort okay? If you get better, then you can stay here with us," Rin said kindly to her.

Primula looked over to Rin, "do you mean it?" she asked.

"Of course I mean it - none of us want to see you go."

Primula shedded a small tear from her left eye, "Thank you Rin."

I'm sorry to say that as the night wore on, Primula didn't get better - in fact, she got worse, she was breathing heavily and her fever was still rising.

Nerine was talking with Rin in the backyard, "Rimu has to go back Rin, if she doesn't..."

"I know what will happen, but..." he looked back up to where Primula's room was, "I don't want to say goodbye."

"You're gonna have to. If you really care about Rimu, then you'll let her go back."

Kaede came out to see them, "how is Primula?" Rin asked.

"Not good, her fever is really high - she's getting worse," there was a pause before Kaede asked the dreaded question, "will she be going back Rin?"

Rin sighed unhappily, "yes Kaede, she'll have to go back. I don't want to lose Primula, I already lost my parents years ago, I'm not losing her too."

"I'll go get my dad," Nerine said quietly as she walked off back to her place.

"You can cry if you want to Kaede," Rin said kindly. Kaede couldn't hold it in for too much longer, she burst into tears right on Rin's left shoulder - although she wasn't the only one crying, Rin had some tears in his eyes too.

After a few minutes, the kings were ready to take Primula back to the realm of the demons, "there's no need to be sad," Forbesii was trying to liven up the situation, "Primula will return once she is better."

"Even so," Rin sighed quietly, "we're going to miss you Primula."

"And I'm going to miss you too," she said quietly. The little purple haired girl didn't want to leave at first, but she finally gave in after a while, "goodbye everyone."

All her friends waved to her as she and the kings headed off to the portal. When they passed the Little Tokyo Railroad, the engines blew their whistles and honked their horns for Primula.

"Come back soon Primula!" Thomas shouted.

Primula looked over to Thomas and shouted, "I love you Thomas!" then she waved until she and the kings were out of sight.

There was silence in the sheds for a while, that was until Li spoke up, "life is never going to be the same without Primula around."

Still there was silence in the sheds until Courtney broke her vow of silence, "come on you guys, it's not like she's never going to come back. I know that once she is feeling better, she'll be coming back."

"Where did you hear that?" Luke asked curiously.

"Nerine told me, she heard that from her father."

Li looked back over to Thomas, "don't worry buddy, she'll be back," he whispered.

"Till then," Thomas sighed unhappily, "We can only hope that she'll make a quick recovery," then very quietly he whispered, "I love you too Primula. Come back soon."

Back in the realm of the demons, Primula was back in the lab with the kings and a scientist, who looked over to Primula with a worried look on his face.

"I'm sorry to say," he said to the kings, "that Primula will _never_ return to Earth again..."

_**The End!**_


	17. Primula Comes Home

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 17**_

_**Primula Comes Home**_

_**Based on the Original "2009" Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_In the last book "Thomas the Lonely Engine", we saw our little friend Primula go back to the realm of the demons, which left everyone in tears. I'm happy to say though that Primula has returned to the city of Tokyo a few days after she left, "I have Rin and all my friends to thank for bringing me home," she told me when I went to speak to her. I asked her "what did your friends do?" she smiled and told me everything. I hope you enjoy these stories of Primula as she finally comes home._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Keep the Faith and Hope Up

-Meetings and Conflicts

-Saving Primula

-Primula Comes Home

_**Keep the Faith and Hope Up**_

The next morning, Kaede and Rin were walking off to school, both of them were feeling miserable. They didn't sleep very well last night, mostly because they missed Primula and couldn't get the images of her leaving out of their heads. They were so depressed that they didn't wait for Sia or Nerine to catch up, and they didn't wave to Drew and Melissa as they walked past Drew's house.

"Poor Rin, poor Kaede," Melissa said quietly.

"I know," Drew said in agreement, "don't worry though, they'll cheer up again once Primula comes back."

"Are you sure she will?"

Drew went quiet for a while as he watched his friends walk past, "I'm sure she will - in the meantime, all we can do is hope."

It wasn't just Drew keeping the faith and hope up, Thomas was doing that too. He missed Primula just as much as his friends did, but he remembered what Courtney said the night before.

"She will return, she will return," he puffed to himself, "Don't lose faith. Don't lose hope."

"That's the spirit Thomas," cheered his Driver and fireman in unison.

Thomas could see Kaede and Rin walking along to their school, he whistled a greeting to them. They waved, but not in a happy way, so Thomas shouted, "Don't give up on Primula my friends, she'll come back!"

Now school isn't the best place to be when you're depressed and today was no exception. Rin hardly said a single word to anyone and Kaede nearly burned the food she was cooking in cooking class, which were sweets.

"I wonder what's wrong with Kaede," Asa thought to herself.

In another part of the school, Nerine and Sia were talking. Nerine had spoken to her father before leaving for school, "there's a good chance that Rimu will _never_ return to earth again," Nerine was saying, "They say her condition is getting worse with every second."

"Oh boy," Sia groaned quietly, "Rin and Kaede are going to be heartbroken when they hear this. Are you sure there's no way to save Rimu at all?"

"From what my dad said - there is no hope."

The two girls were quiet for a while, that was until Sia spoke up, "so, how are we going to break the news to them?" she asked. Nerine didn't answer. After a minute or so, Sia came up with the answer, "maybe we should invite them over to dinner, then once we're done eating - we'll tell them."

"Very well then, that's what we'll do," Nerine sighed unhappily.

After the long school day was done, Kaede and Rin walked off back home, still feeling depressed. As they reached the crossroads, they spotted Li the Little Tokyo Engine shunting some trucks into place.

"Hey you two," Li called in a cheerful way, "how are you doing?"

"We're okay," Rin answered, "we've been invited over to Sia and Nerine's place for dinner tonight."

"Sounds nice, personally I would love to join you, but I am a steam engine after all," he chuckled. His friends didn't laugh, they even crack a smile, "I know you two are still missing Primula - Thomas is missing her too."

"Then why isn't he depressed like us?" Kaede asked.

"It's because he's keeping up the hope and faith, just like the rest of us are. Remember this my young friends," Li was saying as he puffed away, "never give up hope and don't lose faith."

With that said, Li puffed away. Kaede and Rin looked at each other, they smiled for the first time that day, then set for their house.

A few minutes later at Nerine's house, Forbesii and Eustoma were talking, "I don't know if we should tell them about Primula's condition," said Forbesii, "it could hurt them."

"We have no choice old friend, they're on their way over right now," said Eustoma.

"We're already here!" both kings looked to the doorway and saw Rin standing there, along with Kaede right behind him, "what's wrong with Primula? Will she be coming back?"

"We're not enterily sure yet," Forbesii answered, "her condition is getting worse by the second."

Kaede gasped when she heard that, Rin however looked mad, "there must be a way to save her," he said angerily.

"Well there is, but it's a last desperate act," said Eustoma, "if her condition gets worse, then we'll have to reset her emotions. Meaning that once that is done, she'll never frown or smile ever again."

"We're doing the best we can here," added Forbesii, "but so far, it looks hopeless..."

"Sorry we're late!" called Sia as she and Nerine came into the house, "We had to get some minute things..." then she saw Rin and Kaede, "They told you didn't they?"

Rin and Kaede didn't say anything, they simply walked past the two princesses. Rin stopped just before the gate, "and how long were you two going to hide this from us?" he asked angerily, "you know Kaede and I are concerned about Primula's condition and yet you hide the truth from us," his shoulders twitched for a couple of seconds, before he spoke up again, "thanks for inviting us to dinner, but we can't stay, we're going home."

With that said, they left, leaving the kings and the pincesses at a loss of words.

Rin stayed awake most of the night, he was mad at himself, "I shouldn't have told them to take Primula away, it's all my fault," he groaned.

As for Kaede, she cried most of the night before going to bed.

Of course the news got out to the Little Tokyo Engines. Courtney had told them all Nerine and Sia had told her and they were upset by the news, all except for Thomas.

"I refuse to believe that Primula will never return," he said firmly, "I know there's another way to safe her, those kings aren't looking in the right places." It was clear to see that Thomas was going to keep up the faith and remained hopeful that Primula would return.

The next afternoon, Asa was out looking for Rin once school was done for the day. All day long, he and Kaede never once said a word and stayed away from each other, now she was trying to find Rin, hoping to get some answers as to why they were depressed.

At last, she found Rin - he was in the arcade, trying to get a stuffed toy cat out of the claw machine - with little success, "oh come on," Rin groaned angerily.

He was about to go for another coin when he felt someone's hand grab his - it was Asa's hand, "maybe you should take a break for a while," she said kindly.

Rin sighed in defeat, "I blew it big time," he groaned.

"What do you mean?" Asa asked. Rin didn't answer, "wanna talk about it somewhere where there aren't a lot of people?"

Rin nodded his head, not saying a word again. So he and Asa walked out of the arcade and towards the city park. Once there, Rin told Asa everything about Primula.

"...it's all my fault Asa," he said after he explained everything, "it's my fault that she's gone. I just wish Kaede would blame me for that and as for Thomas, I hope he..."

"Stop talking like that!" Asa snapped angerily.

She got up from the park bench in complete shock, "don't you ever start saying that you want your friends to start hating you, it's not your fault Rin! You made that little girl very happy on more than one occassion, you were only looking out for her, you shouldn't go beating yourself up over this."

Rin was quiet once again, he was thinking back to the sad look on Kaede's face, then remembering what Li said to him the night before, and finally he remembered back to when he gave Primula that toy cat.

"You're right Asa," Rin said at last, "you're right about everything. I shouldn't be saying stuff like that and I shouldn't give up on Primula either."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I...I will go see Primula and see if there is anything I can do to help her get better, then once she is better, I will bring her back home with us. I won't give up hope and I won't lose my faith until she's home safe and sound," then he added, "thanks Asa for making me see that I was wrong."

"No problem," she smiled as she slapped Rin on the back, "that's what friends are for right?"

"Right," Rin smiled.

Later on that afternoon, Rin and Asa met up with Sia, Nerine and Kaede as they were talking with Thomas.

"I've made a decision," Rin said, "I'm going to the realm of the demons and I'm going to do anything I can to bring Primula back home." Thomas smiled when he heard that, but Sia and Nerine didn't.

"I don't think you should Rin," said Sia, "the area around the lab is dangerous. Plus in her state, I don't think she'll want to see you."

"Maybe it's best if we just forget about Rimu and pretend like she never came into our lives..."

"That's quite enough!" Thomas shouted angerily and blew off steam furiously, "I refuse to listen to such rubbish like that."

"Thomas is right," Asa said in agreement, "and here you two call yourselves potiential girlfriends for Rin! I can't believe you two would give up that. Honestly," she groaned out loud, "sure you're upset, but Rin is suffering worse than anyone here."

"By giving up on Primula," Thomas continued where Asa left off, "you're giving up on Rin too."

"You see," Rin spoke up next, "Asa finally slapped some sense back into me again and made me realise that there is something I can do - and that's to bring Primula back to Tokyo."

"And you're not going alone," Asa added, "I'm coming with you!"

"I would go with you if I could," said Thomas, "but a steam engine like myself can't go anywhere without his rails. However, I won't give up the hope and the faith until you guys bring Primula back."

"I'll go with you too," Kaede added, despite hearing what the kings said, she never once gave up the hope or the faith.

There was silence on the wooden platform, that was until Sia spoke up, "I'm sorry Rin, I shouldn't have given up on you or Rimu. I'm going with you as well - I would also like to see Rimu come home."

"Count us in too," another voice called from behind them. Rin and Asa looked behind them to see Drew and Melissa standing close by, "We would like to help you bring Primula back home."

"Thank you," Rin smiled, then he looked over to Nerine, "What about you Nerine? Are you going to join us?"

"No," she answered with a sad tone in her voice, "I can't..." she had some tears pouring down from her eyes, "I don't want to lose someone else that I love!" Before anyone could say anything, Nerine ran off.

Rin then ran after Nerine, "I'll go after her," he called to his friends, "I'll be back in a bit!"

_**Meetings and Conflicts**_

Rin ran after Nerine until he lost sight of her, "now where did she go?" he said out loud.

Courtney puffed by with a train of empty trucks bound for the dockyards, "if you're looking for Nerine, why don't you try the city park, that's where you can usually find her."

"Thanks Courtney," Rin called as he ran off, Courtney called back with a blow of her whistle as a way of saying 'You're Welcome'.

Rin ran up to the park where sure enough, he found Nerine sitting on a swing and singing her song again. She stopped halfway threw the song and sighed, "Rin," she knew he was there, "do you remember the day you first met me?"

"Of course I do," he said, "I remember walking into the park and I heard you singing that song."

"It wasn't me who was singing it - it wasn't even me you met that day."

"What?" Now Rin was confused, "it wasn't you that I met that day? Are you sure it wasn't you that I met that day, cause I remember meeting a young girl with blue hair, the same shade of blue your hair is."

"It wasn't me Rin," Nerine sighed again as she looked down to the ground, "I was too sick to come here that day, so someone else took my place - my sister, Lycoris."

Back at the Little Tokyo Railroad yards, the Tokyo friends and Thomas were waiting for Rin and Nerine to return, "I'm sorry about the shouting earlier," Asa was saying, "it's not who I am."

"It's okay Asa," Sia sighed as she looked down the tracks, "both Rina and I deserved to be yelled at after giving up on Rimu and Rin."

"I was almost ready to give up," said Kaede quietly, "I thought for sure we would never see Rimu again."

"We'll get to see her again," Thomas said confidently.

"It's thanks to you and Asa that I didn't give up hope or faith."

"Hey it's what friends are for, we're always there to help cheer our friends up when they are feeling down," Thomas then looked over to Asa, "don't you agree with me Asa?"

"Of course I do," she said with a smile on her face, "you should never give up the faith or hope...like I almost did all those years ago." She looked down to the platform sadly, then Asa looked back up to see her friends looking at her with confused looks, "I'm sorry guys, this isn't usually me, I think I'll go something to drink, then I'll be back in..."

Asa didn't finish what she was saying because she suddenly fainted on the platform.

Back at the park, Rin was in complete shock over what he had just heard from Nerine, "your sister Lycoris is the girl I met years ago?" he asked.

"Yes," Nerine answered sadly, "Rin, what do you know about the artificial lifeform project?"

"Only that there were three lifeforms and that Primula is one of them," he answered.

Nerine sighed unhappily, "I knew my dad wouldn't tell you - Lycoris was the second test subject. After the first test subject blew the whole lab apart, the scientists created Lycoris by using some of my DNA. In other words - she's my clone."

Again Rin gasped but remained quiet as Nerine continued to tell him everything.

"There were two ways you could us apart, one was by the color of the eyes - as you see Rin," she said while looking over to him, "my eyes are a dark shade of red, Lycoris' eye color was blue, then the second way to tell us apart was by the sound of our voices."

The two of them went quiet as Luke rumbled back with loaded trucks from the dockyards.

"Lycoris was a kind sweet girl, she loved everyone and everyone loved her, whenever you felt down in the dumps she would comfort you and sing you a little song - the very song I sing to this day."

"She even did that for Rimu when she was created," Nerine continued, "and before long those become so close like sisters - of course they are real sisters, or should I say 'was'?"

"So what happened to Lycoris?" Rin asked.

Nerine didn't answer him for a long time, then she broke her vow of silence again, "I grew terribly sick sometime after Rimu was created, everyone thought I wasn't going to make it. When Lycoris saw me, she offered up her life energy to save me."

"Right, because she was created out of your DNA."

"Yes Rin, you are right - thanks to Lycoris, I was saved, but she was not so lucky," Nerine looked down to the ground and kicked it with her right foot. Rin understood, "her very sprirt was merged into mine," poor Nerine looked like she was going to burst into tears, "I stole everything from her. I stole her song, her voice and her love for you. I don't want to lose anyone else, not you, Rimu or anyone else."

"That's why we're going to the realm of the demons, to help Primula get better and bring her home again."

"I'm sorry Rin," said Nerine as she got up from the swing, "but I won't go...I can't..." just as she burst into tears, she ran off. Rin didn't go after her this time, he knew that she needed some time to be alone.

Rin soon returned back to the Little Tokyo yards, Thomas had gone off back to work ages ago, only Kaede was standing on the platform, she looked worried, "it's Asa," Kaede said with a worried tone in her voice, "she passed out on the platform a little while ago."

"What?" Rin exclaimed.

Both Kaede and Rin went over to Asa's house, they were worried for their green haired friend. They were greeted by Ms. Ama when they arrived, "she's okay, she just overdid it today."

Kaede and Rin sighed in relief, "can we see her?" Rin asked.

"Of course you can."

Ms. Ama lead Kaede and Rin to Asa's room, she was resting on her bed. She looked over to her friends and smiled, "I'm sorry for worrying you two, I just overdid it today."

"It's okay Asa," Rin said kindly, "we're just glad to know that you're okay." Kaede nodded her head in agreement.

Ms. Ama then stepped out for a second, then she came back with some soup on a tray, "it's still a little warm so you might want to let it cool down for a bit."

"Thanks mom," Asa smiled happily, "I don't know what I would do without you."

Ms. Ama smiled at her daughter, then she walked out of the room. Asa looked back over to her friends, "I wasn't always this friendly to my mom when I was younger," she said.

"What do you mean Asa?" Rin and Kaede asked in unison.

Asa giggled, then she looked at them with a serious look on her face, "when I was younger, I was very sick. I couldn't go out to play, I couldn't go to school...I was always stuck in bed and I wasn't happy about that. I soon started blaming my mom for giving me a sick body, I would often ignore her, even though she was doing her best to help me."

"Then one day," she continued, "I finally snapped at her - it's the one and only time I ever yelled at her..."

" 'Here Asa sweetie,' my mom said to me, 'I brought you some soup, it should help you to get better.' The very moment I heard that, I slapped the bowl of soup of her hand, then I really yelled at her."

" 'I'm never going to get better!' I shouted at her, 'it's thanks to you that I'm stuck in bed, it's thanks to you I don't have any friends...' I started coughing again at that moment, my mom patted nice and gently. After I stopped coughing, I slapped her hand away again, 'I hate you! I wish I was never born and I was you were never my mother!' "

A small tear appeared in Asa's left eye, "I still can't believe I said all that to her. Still," she added, "she never once gave up on me, she remained by my side and did her best to help me get better, she even said to me after my outburst 'Asa, you're my sweet little angel and I'll always love you'."

"Aww," Kaede said quietly.

"I now know I shouldn't have said those things to her, shortly after my outburst I forgave her."

"Well it's always good to forgive someone you care about," Rin said in agreement.

He looked over to Kaede, he was thinking back to one rainy day when they were kids and she yelled out 'I hate you Rin!' at the top of her lungs. He understood perfectly about the pain Asa felt.

Asa got up till she was sitting upright, "since I can't go with you guys," she was saying this while taking her brown ribbon off, "I want you to have this, I hope this will help," she then wrapped it around Rin's left arm, but not too tightly, "my mom gave me this to help get threw those days and I hope it can help you in your time of need."

"It will," Rin said to her, "I'm sure it will."

A little later, Thomas was taking his friends along the new city street line that was to be used by the commuter trains once the line is finished. He soon stopped just outside of a building, "this is as far as I can take you lot," he said to his friends, "I'm useless without my rails."

"It's okay Thomas," Kaede said kindly, "we appreciate you bringing us here, despite the work on the railroad."

"It's like I said before, what are friends for?" As he puffed away he called out to his friends, "don't ever give up the faith or the hope, don't give up until Primula back home. We'll be here to support all the way!"

"Thanks Thomas!" Sia called as the blue tank engine puffed away.

Rin, Kaede, Sia, Drew and Melissa soon arrived outside the building where the portal to the realm of the demons was. Upon entering the building, they saw Nerine standing near it, "I've decided to go with you," she said, "I will help you bring Rimu home, 'never give up hope and faith' right?"

"Right," smiled Rin, he then stared at the portol, "now that we're all together," he rubbed the ribbon Asa gave him, "let's go bring Primula home again!"

"Okay!" the girls shouted at once, Drew nodded his head happily. Then they walked into the portal. They were now on their way...to the realm of the demons!

_**Saving Primula**_

In a matter of minutes, the Tokyo friends had arrived in the realm of the demons. It was like Earth, except for the creatures flying about, which scared Melissa, "it's okay," Drew said soothily, and the fact that the beings there could use powers.

As they neared the lab, Sia explained about the area, "it has to be swampy for the experiments to work."

"The reason it's so far from the nearest town," said Nerine, "is because of safety measures, they don't want to risk anything in case..."

She didn't say a single word, she didn't have to - they knew what she was going to say.

At last, they reached the giant sized doors of the lab. Standing there were Forbesii and Eustoma. They stared down at the six friends with firm looks and ordered them to return to Earth, but they didn't.

"We're here to see Primula," Rin said firmly, "we want to help her get better and bring her home."

"Please your majesties," Kaede pleaded, "you have to let us in."

"Please dad," Nerine and Sia said in chrous.

Both kings remained stoney faced and quiet, then finally Eustoma spoke up, "we can never say no to our own daughters or to Rin," he said to Forbesii.

"Too true," Forbesii sighed, "you six can come in, stay close though - it's easy to get lost in here."

On the way to the main room where Primula was, the kings spoke to Rin, "should the worst come up and we have no way of saving Primula," said Eustoma, "we'll have to reset her emotions."

"No!" cried Sia.

"Don't worry about us Rin," said Kaede, "We'll be fine, don't let them do this to Rimu!"

"You have my word," Rin said firmly, making the girls gasp, "but that will be a last resort if all else fails."

"Tell me something Rin," said Forbesii, "do you think a miricle will occur while we're in the lab?"

"You never know sir. We've seen a lot of miricles up to this point to expect the unexpected," he grabbed hold of the ribbon Asa gave him, to Rin, it felt as though Asa was really with them, "I'm not giving up on Primula."

"We're going to keep the hope up," said Nerine.

"And keep the faith up too," Kaede added.

"True that," Drew spoke up.

At last they reached the lab. The kings lead the six friends to the main chamber where Primula was, she was fast asleep in there.

"Hey Primula," said Rin as he walked up to the chamber, "it's me Rin. I'm not alone, Kaede, Sia, Nerine, Drew and Melissa are here too. We're here to bring you home to Tokyo again."

"We all miss you very much Rimu," said Kaede as calmly as she could.

"Asa and Thomas miss you too," Rin continued, "Asa couldn't come with us as she's not feeling well and Thomas couldn't come because there are no tracks here, but they're hoping to see you come home with us."

There was silence in the room, Rin grabbed the ribbon once more, then he spoke up again.

"Our little family just hasn't been the same without you Primula, so what do you say, do you want to come home with us?"

Again there was silence within the room, that was until..."Rin...Rin..."

"That's right Primula, I'm here - we're all here."

"Can it be?" the scientist asked the kings.

"Rin was right," smiled Forbesii, "mirciles can happen."

I'm sorry to say that their wonderful moment wasn't going to last for too long - a loose spark flew past the gang, then - sparks of lightning flew all around the lab. Rin flew back a bit and so did Kaede, Drew and Melissa caught her.

"Rimu, don't do this!" Kaede cried, "please!"

"Do something!" Eustoma shouted to the scientist.

"I'm trying sir, nothing seems to be working..." he never finished as he thrown towards the wall by a strong gust of wind.

The kings sighed in defeat, "Sorry Rin, we have no choice now!" shouted Forbesii, "we have to reset her emotions. I'm sorry, but there will be no mirciles today! We have to do this!"

"No!" Rin shouted as he looked back over to Primula. He remembered what Asa said to him, then he remembered back to the day Primula was given that toy cat, "I'm not losing her again! Not again! I'm not giving up the faith or the hope, she's coming home with us! PRIMULA!" he shouted.

Primula couldn't hear her friends, she was lost in her little world. Her mind had taken her back to a white room, she was listening to Lycoris singing a song to her, "that's a beautiful song," said Primula, "can you teach me that song?"

"I can't," said Lycoris, "I have to go very soon, but before I go..." she then handed something to Primula.

"A cat." It was very same toy cat Primula brought with her when she came to Earth.

"This toy means something very special to me," said Lycoris, "what this toy means is...love." Primula looked up, she found herself standing in a field with her sister standing not too far away from her, "I have to go now, just remember that I'll always love you and Rina. Take care of yourself Rimu and," she added, "take care of your friends and family."

Lycoris then disappeared before Primula could say another word. All was quiet, then she heard Rin calling her name, then she heard Kaede's voice, then Nerine, Sia, Asa, Drew and Melissa's voices could be heard. Then, very faintly, she heard a shrill whistle in the distance, followed by two Pennsylvania railroad style whistles, a japanese steam whistle sounded and then there was a diesel horn.

"My family," Primula said quietly, "They're all waiting for me."

Back in the lab, Primula's powers were out of control. Still, Rin didn't give up, "I will never give up on Primula," he groaned as he got up, he felt the ribbon again, "I will not lose hope and I won't lose faith! I will save you Primula!"

"Go for it bro!" shouted Drew.

"You can do it!" Melissa and Kaede shouted in unison.

Rin forged bravely on, then he noticed that Nerine was walking over to where he was. She floated up, then she opened up a small force field to hold the powers back, "now Rin!" she shouted, "now's your chance, save my baby sister!"

"I will...Lycoris!" he shouted.

"Lycoris?" Forbesii gasped, he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

Rin walked up to the chamber, just as the glass started to break. Water started to pour out of the chamber, slowly at first, then as the cracks got bigger, the water came out faster and faster. At last the glass gave way!

"Is he okay?" Drew asked with a worried tone in his voice.

"I think you will want to rephrase that question Drew," said Melissa, "it should be, are _they_ okay?"

Rin was okay and so was Primula, she was now in his arms after coming out of the chamber, "hi Primula," Rin said kindly, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay - now that you're all here!" she then gave Rin a hug.

Melissa looked over to the kings, "looks like Rin proved you wrong today," she chuckled. Neither one of the kings said a single word.

"Where's Lycoris?" Primula asked.

"I'm right here Rimu," she answered, she then looked over to Rin, "I'm so proud of Rin, you saved my little sister today. I know she'll be in good hands with you - thank you so much."

"You're welcome Lycoris," he said.

"Now I must be going," as she was saying this, yellow sparks flew away from Nerine's body, "take care of yourself Rimu. I'll always love you, Rin and Nerine...good bye."

"Good bye big sister."

Sia caught Nerine just before she fell, she then noticed a tear in Nerine's eyes, "she's gone again," she sobbed. Primula sobbed too, she cried on Rin's shoulder until she had cried out all her tears.

_**Primula Comes Home**_

Half an hour later, the scientist, who had woken up after being knocked out, was using his magic to check on Primula's condition. Everyone in the room stood in complete silence.

"It's hard to believe," the scientist said after a while, "but she has made a full recovery. It really is a mircile."

"That is great news!" Sia cheered, then she ran up to Primula and gave her a big hug, "it's good to see you again Rimu."

"Well that's one way to say hello," Drew said quietly, Melissa, Kaede and Rin chuckled along to that joke.

The scientist spoke to the kings next, "sirs, do you know what this means? We can start up the artificial lifeform project up again now that we have a successful test subject."

"Primula is not staying here," Rin said firmly, "she's coming back to earth with us!"

The scientist wanted to voice his objection, but didn't say a word as he saw the firm stares of Kaede, Sia, Nerine, Rin, Drew and Melissa. There was silence for about a minute until Eustoma finally broke the silence, "fine we give up," he said, "we can never say no to our daughters or Rin."

Forbesii was quick to agree, "Primula might do so much better of earth than she would here, as long as Rin promises to look after her."

"Of course I will," he said, "We all will."

"Then it's settled, Primula can go back to Earth," said Forbesii. The four girls along with Drew and Rin cheered happily - tears formed in Primula's eyes, but she was smiling.

With that settled, the seven friends headed off for the portol back to Earth and the city of Tokyo.

It was late at night when they finally returned, Primula looked around, still smiling, "I never thought I would get to see this beautiful city ever again," she said, "thank you everyone for bringing home again."

"You're welcome Rimu," Kaede said happily.

Just then, they heard the sound of an engine's whistle in the distance, it was a shrill whistle. Primula smiled, she knew who it was, she started to wave to the approaching train.

"It's Thomas," she smiled, "he's coming!"

Primula was quite right, Thomas was coming down the new line with an empty passenger coach. He came to a smooth stop just before the building, "hello Primula," Thomas smiled, "it's good to see you again my young friend."

"And it's good to see you too Thomas," she smiled.

Primula walked up to Thomas, climbed up onto his bufferbeam, then she gave him a big hug.

"Aww," said Melissa, then she gasped as she saw - Primula giving Thomas a small kiss on the left side of his face.

Thomas didn't roll his eyes in surprise, instead - he blushed and smiled at his little friend, "we're all very happy to have you back Primula, we missed you," he said kindly. He then asked Primula to move to the middle of his bufferbeam and get down on her knees. Primula did, then Thomas gave her a gentle kiss on top of her head.

"I'm happy to be back Thomas," she said to him.

"Just one question here," said Drew, "how did you know we were back?"

"The kings phoned the Man in the Suit a short while ago," answered Thomas' Driver, "they asked if we could take you back to the yards before you guys go home."

Once everyone was onboard the passenger coach, Thomas backed down the tracks very carefully until he reached the points leading back to the main line. Then once the points were changed, Thomas puffed on back to the Little Tokyo Railroad. Along the way, they passed Courtney, who was waiting in a siding with a goods train for the district.

"Welcome back Primula!" she called as she blew off her japanese style whistle.

At the next siding, they passed by Luke, who was travelling light engine to collect coal and oil for the engines from the district. He blew his air horn and cried out, "we all missed you Primula, it's good to see you again!"

At last, Thomas pulled into the main station of the Railway. Li was there, he was being checked over by his crew, "Primula!" he cheered, the fireman blew off the whistle, "it's good to see ya back."

Primula smiled as she waved to Li and his crew, "it feels good to be home again," she said happily.

That night, there was a special 'welcome back' party for Primula. Everyone had a great time - although Eustoma drank just a little too much, so Drew and Melissa had to help Sia get him back to her house.

Nerine in the meanwhile was outside the house and looking up to the stars. Primula came walking out to check up on her.

"I wonder which one of those stars is Lycoris' star," Nerine said out loud. She sighed unhappily, "that's twice now I missed my chance to say 'thank you' for what she did and to say 'goodbye' to her - I wish I could tell her just how much she means to me."

"She knows," said Primula, Nerine looked over to the little purple haired girl surprised, "big sister Lycoris knew that all along."

Primula then walked back into the house, leaving Nerine alone. She wasn't alone for long as Rin walked out to see if she was okay, "so is Lycoris really..."

"Yes she's gone," Nerine answered before Rin could ask the rest of the question, "I'll never forget her, she was special in her own way - truth be told Rin, she was the one who gave me my nickname after her trip here to Earth - just a few weeks before she gave her life up to save me."

Nerine then spoke in a serious way, "now I can see things clearly, I want to sing with my own voice and fall in love in my own way."

"Sounds good to me," Rin smiled happily. He proud of his friend.

Early the next morning, Rin went off to Asa's house. He told her everything about what happened, "you can never stay out of trouble can you?" Asa giggled, "still, I'm glad to hear that Rimu is okay and that she's back."

"And it's all thanks to you Asa," Rin said kindly as he handed back the ribbon, "your ribbon really helped - everytime I grabbed it, it felt like you were there. Telling me not to give up no matter what."

"So what does that make me?" she giggled as wrapped the ribbon around that one strand of hair, "your little helper?"

"More like a good friend who cares so much for the people she cares about."

"Thanks Rin, that means alot coming from you," she then looked at the clock, "you better get going, otherwise you're going to be late for school - and knowing your teacher, she's not going to be too happy," she giggled.

"Don't I know it," Rin groaned as he got up, "I'll talk to you later Asa - get better soon okay?"

"You got it Rin," she said with a wink. Rin winked right back just before he closed the door for her room.

After school was done for the day, Kaede and Rin went up to the Little Tokyo Railroad's dockyards, Primula was there along with Drew and Melissa. Thomas was there too, he was being prepared to be lifted back onto the ship for Sodor.

"Do you really have to go Thomas?" Primula asked.

"Yeah I got to," he answered, "I'm needed back on the branch line," he looked at his young friend with a smile on his face, "I had a great time here though, I enjoyed helping with the Transfer Point line, then with the Fifth Anniversery of the railroad, but what I enjoyed most about my third visit here was getting to spend time with all of you, you especially Primula."

"Well we were honored to have you here again Thomas," Primula said kindly, "You will come back for another visit someday right?"

"You know I will," Thomas said with a smile.

By now, the workers had finally attached all the cables to Thomas, "about time," grumbled Rick from above, "this is going to make my chain ache, it's going to hurt my crane arm..."

"Shut up already!" snapped Thomas and Primula at the same time. They stared at each other in surprise, then they chuckled.

"Goodbye Primula, I hope to see you again real soon."

"I'm sure you will. Maybe next time we meet will be at my station on your branch line - or here on the Little Tokyo Railroad."

"Maybe my young friend."

Thomas was slowly lifted off his tracks and over to the boat while his crew got on board the ship, "I don't know if I can hold down my lunch this time," groaned the fireman.

"Just try," mumbled the Driver.

Drew, Melissa, Kaede, Rin and Primula waved to Thomas as he was lowered inside the ship. Thomas shouted one more 'goodbye' to his friends just before he was inside the hall of the ship.

After a few minutes, after Thomas had been tied down, the ship left the harbour and headed off back to Sodor.

"Come on," said Primula after a few minutes as she looked over to Kaede and Rin, "let's go home, I would like to hear about your day at school." With that said, the five friends set off back to the Fuyou house, all of which were happy to know that Primula was back and is here to stay.

**The End!**


	18. Courtney the Japanese Engine

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 18**_

_**Courtney the Japanese Engine**_

_**Based on the Original "2009" Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Lots of people have been asking me to write up a book about Courtney the Japanese Engine, and after hearing about her 'eventful' week, I am happy to say that she is finally going to get a book of her own. I know though that Courtney would never forgive me if I didn't include the story of Sia and Nerine's heroic deed, so I added that story in too. I sure hope this makes her happy and I hope this will make all of you happy too._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-On the Line

-Little Tokyo Heroines

-Laura Runs Away

-Courtney to the Rescue

_**On the Line**_

Work on the Little Tokyo Railroad had increased once again when the autumn season began. Despite the hard work, Courtney, Li and Luke worked their hardest every single day and night.

"Thank goodness we have Luke here," Li said one night to Courtney while they were alone in the sheds, "now we don't have to wear those bufferbeams on our front and back ends."

"Too true," said Courtney, but went quiet when she saw Luke come into the sheds.

"Well that was a close call," Luke said as he was being parked, "on our way back to the sheds, some reckless teenagers darted across the level crossing while on bicycles."

"We nearly hit the third bicycle," added Luke's Driver.

"I think we need better crossing gates at those crossings," said Li.

"It doesn't really change anything Li," said Courtney, "there will always be people who will take a chance at level crossings. I mean, they will wait at a traffic light for two minutes, but they won't wait for us."

"Right you are Courtney," agreed Luke.

It was then that the side door was opened, the engines looked to see the Man in the Suit come into the sheds.

"I require one of you engines to go down to the warehouse district and pick an important goods train that's needed at the docks," he said.

"I'll take the train for you sir," said Luke.

"That's very kind of you to offer Luke, but you have been working very hard today, you deserve a good night's rest. Besides," he added, "this train has knuckle couplings, so I'll need one of my other engines to collect it."

"I'll take the job sir," Courtney spoke up, "Li also deserves a chance to rest."

"Very well then Courtney," said the Man in the Suit, "the job is all yours."

With that confirmed, Courtney's Driver opened the regulator and Courtney puffed on her way out of the sheds and over to the coaling depot to have her tender filled up.

Once her tender was loaded up with coal, Courtney puffed off for the district, light engine. She liked running at night, she loved hearing the crickets and she loved looking up to the stars.

Courtney soon arrived at the warehouse district, Ken was shunting trucks in the shops while Masuko was moving crates around in the back shop.

"I'm here to collect another goods train for the dockyards," Courtney called to Ken.

"Don't worry Courtney, your train is just about ready."

So while Ken shunted the rest of the trucks together, Courtney went to get turned around for the return journey, then she went back to the front of the shops, just as Ken finished his shunting.

"We've been really busy lately haven't we?" the american shunter asked.

"We sure have," answered Courtney, "if this keeps up, the Man in the Suit will have to borrow another engine - or buy another one for that matter."

"The Man in the Suit _is _borrowing another engine," said Courtney's Driver, "one's coming all the way from America, it should be here in a few days."

"At least you guys are getting some help," Ken said as he was shunted into a siding, "I remember at one of the railroads Li and I worked at would refuse to except help from anyone else and that usually lead to trouble."

Within minutes, Courtney was backed onto the train and the fireman made sure Courtney was coupled up.

"Have a good run Courtney," called Ken, "and be careful out there okay?"

"Of course I'll be careful," she called as she puffed away from the district and down the line.

Her wheels were soon pounding the rails as they ran threw the streets of the city of Tokyo. Another reason Courtney likes running in the night is because there is less traffic at this time.

"We're five minutes ahead of the timetable, well done Courtney!" called her Driver.

"Thank you," she called back.

All was going well until about three minutes after they left the city streets, "someone's on the line!" Courtney cried.

The Driver leaned out the window to look. As he looked ahead, he could see someone waving frantically just down the tracks. Upon seeing this, he slammed on the brakes and brought Courtney to a stop.

"I wonder what the trouble is," said the Driver, he pulled on the whistle chain to tell whoever it was that they had stopped, "is that person still there?"

"Yep, they're still up the line," the fireman answered as he looked out the window, "and still waving frantically."

"Odd, they know we've stopped, so why is this person still waving frantically?"

"Don't know, but I intend to find out. I'll go up the line alone and call you on your phone once I find out what is wrong."

With that confirmed, the fireman climbed down from the cab and walked off to the spot where the person was, "and now all we can do is to wait," sighed Courtney.

They waited for three minutes before they finally got the call that would answer their question, "what seems to be the trouble?" the Driver asked.

"Bring Courtney to where I am, I'll show you," the fireman answered.

Slightly confused, the Driver opened the regulator and moved Courtney slowly down the tracks where the fireman was. Courtney kept her eye up ahead, it seemed to her that the person was moving away from them.

"Why is this person walking away?" she asked out loud.

Courtney was brought to a stop at the spot where the fireman was waiting, "I thought so," he said out loud.

"What is the trouble?" the Driver asked again.

"There's no trouble at all, there was no person on the tracks at all," he then looked up to Courtney's headlamp. The Driver looked too and gasped, "that's what was waving to us."

Sitting in front of Courtney's headlamp was a moth, flapping it's wings up and down.

"Looks like you had picked up a hitch hiker tonight Courtney," chuckled Courtney's Driver, "he must've landed on your head lamp just after we left the city streets."

"At least there's no danger on the tracks," said the fireman, "now what do you say we get going? We're already late as it is."

The Driver and Courtney agreed. So once the crew were back in the cab, Courtney and her long goods train set off towards the dockyards. The moth stayed on the headlamp for a few more minutes, then it flew away.

At last Courtney arrived at the dockyards, she was only a few minutes late.

"What took you so long?" Rick called down to her.

"You won't believe me if I tell you," Courtney called back.

"Why can't I ever get an honest answer," Rick grumbled as he went to work. Courtney shunted all of her trucks close to Rick, then the workmen went to work in unloading the trucks.

It was Midnight by the time the trucks had been unloaded and shunted back into the yards.

"What a night huh?" one of them asked Courtney, "to think we were stopped by a moth."

"It's definetly a first for us," said Courtney as she was uncoupled. She said good night to the trucks, then she puffed on her way back to the sheds. Li and Luke were already asleep by the time Courtney was brought back to the sheds.

"I'll tell them in the morning," she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Bright and early the next morning, Courtney told Li, Luke and Sia, who was visiting the sheds, all about the previous night's events.

"Lucky for you it was just a moth and not a person on the tracks," said Luke.

"And be lucky too there was nothing wrong on the tracks ahead," added Li, "otherwise you would've had a serious accident."

"Even if there was something wrong on the tracks," Sia spoke up, "I don't think Courtney would've gotten into a serious accident - not with that moth flying in front of her head lamp."

"Okay you got a good point there."

After the short discussion, the engines went off to work while Sia went to join her friends, who were already on their way to school.

When Courtney arrived at the dockyards, Rick called down to her, "so you were stopped by a moth. A big steam engine like yourself, stopped by a little moth," he then burst out into laughter, "now that is funny."

"What goes around _will_ come around," Courtney said to herself. The guard blew his whistle and, while Rick was still laughing, Courtney puffed away with a loaded goods train behind her.

**Author's Note:**

The story of Courtney being stopped by a moth was deeply inspired by the real life event where an express train was stopped on a chilly night because the Driver saw what appeared to be a man waving his arms frantically up the line. The engine 'Queen Victoria' was stopped, then the crew went up the line to see a washed out bridge, then when they went to their engine, they found out that the man was actually a moth which could be found on the base of the engine's headlamp.

_**Little Tokyo Heroines**_

A few days later, the visiting engine arrived. It was a bright yellow U50 diesel locomotive from the Union Pacific railroad, it came with sixteen small driving wheels, directional headlights in between it's number-plates, which read '36' and it had a walkway on both sides of it.

The engine arrived sometime past midnight, so by the time it was brought to the sheds, the other engines were already asleep.

"Get a night's rest my engine," said the Driver, "and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night Jim," she called quietly, then she closed her eyes and went off to sleep as the shed doors were closed.

The following morning, she was having a conversation with the other engines after she introduced herself to them, "the U50 diesel locomotives were created from the scrapped gas turbine-electric engines the Union Pacific had back in 1960's," the engine, whose name is Laura, said, "All of us came with two FDL-16 diesel engines, each with their own generator and dynamic brake setup."

"So in a way," Luke spoke up, "you're a lot like the diesel hydraulics of the Great Western Railway."

"I guess you could say that," said Laura.

"Tell me something though," said Li, "does the Union Pacific still run your class of engines?"

"Sadly not," sighed Laura unhappily, "many of the U50's are no longer in service on the Union Pacific or even on the Southern Pacific, we were replaced by the more modern diesels of the railroad. Nice engines overall, but kinda sad in a way."

"So where did the Man in the Suit find you?" Courtney asked.

Before Laura could answer, she noticed two figures coming into the sheds. It was Nerine and Sia, "Whoa!" gasped Sia, "that's a big engine." Nerine was quick to agree.

"Perfect timing you two," Courtney smiled, "Sia, Nerine, we would like to introduce you to Laura, she's the visiting engine who's come to help with some of the heavy workloads. Laura, these are our friends, Nerine the princess of the realm of the demons and Sia the princess of the realm of the gods."

"Even though we're princesses," said Sia, "we would like to be treated like any other teenage girl."

"I understand perfectly," smiled Laura, "it's an honor to meet you both. And in answer to your question," she said while looking over to Courtney, "I came from a hertiage line, they had just recently put me back into the service."

"I'm glad to see that you're all getting along well," called a voice, everyone looked to see the Man in the Suit at the doorway, "today's going to be a very busy day, so here are your jobs. Courtney, you are to take a loaded goods train..."

"Goods train?" Laura asked sounding confused.

"Oh I'm sorry Laura, I forgot to mention this to you. Freight trains around here are called 'goods trains' and cars are 'trucks'. Now where was I? Oh yes, I remember now - Courtney, you are to take a loaded goods train down to the warehouse district and bring back another loaded train. Li, you are to shunt in the yards today with Luke. And Laura," he said while looking to the big diesel, "I want you to work at the yards shunting the trucks until another job comes up."

"Yes sir," all the engines said in chrous.

"I guess we should be going too," said Sia, "otherwise we're going to be late for school, it was nice meeting you Laura. Have a good day you four." With that said, Nerine and Sia left the sheds just as Courtney's crew arrived to get her fired up.

Once her fire had been lit, Laura went with Courtney to the dockyards.

"Oh so there's the tin can I lifted off that ship last night," snickered a voice from above them, it was of course - Rick, "why did the Man in the Suit bring you here?"

"Oh shut up you stupid crane!" Courtney snapped.

"How rude," Laura said quietly, she was offended.

Courtney tried to cheer her up, "don't take Rick's words too seriously, he's always rude and quite arrogant I must say. The best thing you can do is to ignore him, esepecially if you're working in the dockyards around him."

"Thanks for the advice Courtney," Laura said with a smile.

One of the dockyard workers arrived, "alright Laura, there's some trucks that need to be taken to the yards," he then told the Driver where to get the trucks. Laura said good bye to Courtney and then rumbled away.

Courtney was soon coupled up to the trucks, then she puffed on her way to the warehouse district. She made a record run all the way to the district and had no trouble whatsoever. Throughout the entire day, everything ran like clockwork, every train ran to perfect time and there no reports of accidents made either in the yards or on the main line - until the afternoon.

At around three that afternoon, a woman was driving her car home after a long day at work. She had working a lot lately and was now tired - so tired that she didn't notice she that was driving towards a railroad crossing. She turned to the right - BUMP! Her car came to a complete stop.

"Wha...what happened?" the woman yawned and went to sleep.

At this time, Sia and Nerine were just passing by the crossing and had noticed the woman driving off the crossing and getting herself getting stuck on the tracks.

"Why isn't she driving off the crossing?" asked Sia.

Nerine looked into the windows, "the woman's fallen asleep..."

Just then, the two girls heard a loud whistle coming towards the crossing - then the lights at the crossing gate started to go off and the gates started to go down.

"We need to get her out of here now!" cried Nerine.

"Hey lady, wake up!" cried Sia, but the woman didn't wake up. After the third time Sia said "Wake up!" the woman finally opened her eyes.

"Hello there," she yawned, "what can I do for?"

"Well for starters," said Sia, "you might want to drive your car off the tracks before you get hit by a train!"

"A train is coming?" the woman asked, Nerine and Sia nodded at the same time. The woman put the car in reverse, but the car wouldn't move an inch off the crossing. Sia and Nerine helped out by pushing the car back to the crossing, but it did no good - the car was still stuck on the crossing. Then they heard the loud whistle again - only now it sounded like it was getting closer to the crossing.

"Are you sure there's a train coming?" the tired woman asked, "I don't see anything."

"That's because it's coming from behind you!" cried Sia, "you need to get out of the car now!"

Without wasting a second, the two girls helped the tired woman out of her car and away from the crossing. All they could do now was wait for the horrible crash.

Courtney came into view, she saw the car on the tracks.

"STOP! STOP!" she cried.

Her Driver slammed on the brakes on as hard as he could, but with the weight of the trucks behind her, she wasn't going to be able to stop in time - Courtney smashed into the back of the car with an earshattering crash! She pushed the car a few feet down the tracks before finally coming to a stop.

"Thank you," the tired woman said to Nerine and Sia, "you saved me, you're heroes."

"We're always glad to help," said Nerine.

"Rina's right," Sia smiled, "you're safe now - your car on the other hand, hmm - not so much."

Sia was right, the car had been smashed up badly. Windows had been broken, doors were smashed out - in fact, the car looked like it didn't have a back end at all.

Courtney's Driver and fireman were checking their engine all over to see if she was hurt.

"No serious damage to you Courtney," said her Driver after a while, "Although I can't say the same for the car. Still, I like to know why there was a car on the tracks."

"It's all my fault," the tired woman said as she, Sia and Nerine walked up beside the Japanese engine, "I fell asleep behind the wheel and I drove my car onto the crossing thinking I had turned onto the street. I'm just grateful these two girls saved me before you showed up. They're heroes."

Courtney smiled in agreement.

The Driver called for a tow truck by using his mobile phone, then he and the fireman moved Courtney away from the wreck.

Then after the tow truck had moved the wrecked car off the tracks, Courtney and her loaded goods train set off back to the yards.

"Not another accident at the crossing," groaned Li when Courtney told the story later that night, "I'm losing track of how times we have accidents around those crossings."

"By my count, we've only three accidents at crossings," said Courtney.

"Really? I thought it was more than that - guess I was wrong," he said meekily, "from what you told us, that woman is right - Sia and Nerine are heroes."

"You're not going to believe this," said another voice, it was Drew. He introduced himself to Laura, then he continued where he left off, "Nerine and Sia's story is all over the news. A store surveillance camera captured everything about their heroic deed, they also did some interviews with the woman and the two princesses. The woman said she wanted to repay Nerine and Sia for what they did, but they said she didn't need to do that at all."

"I think for Sia and Nerine, the best reward they can ask for is knowing that this woman is okay," said Courtney. The other engines, along with Drew, all agreed with her.

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by a real life event where a woman had driven her car off the crossing and had gotten stuck on the tracks. Several teenagers tried to move the car off the tracks, but they couldn't move it. So they helped the woman out of the car and ran to safety while a CSX freight train smashed into the back end of the car, smashing the car to bits. Luckily no one was hurt, when and where it happened is unknown.

_**Laura Runs Away**_

It soon came time for Laura to take her first goods train along the line, she ran on to the warehouse district in perfect timing. In fact, every train she took after that ran to perfect time. She impressed everyone with her strength and power, which included the engines and the Man in the Suit.

"I think we made the right choice bringing you here Laura," the Man in the Suit said to her after her third run, "you have been doing a good job. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you very much sir," smiled Laura.

After her small conversation with the Man in the Suit, Laura took a load of empty trucks to the dockyards to be loaded up for the next trip. Courtney was already there, her trucks were being unloaded at this time.

"So what do you think of our little old railroad?" asked the Japanese engine.

"It's quite a lovely line," answered the visiting diesel, "I really like working here."

"I'm glad to hear that," then Courtney spoke seriously to Laura, "take my advice though and watch for some snobby looking boys that wear the same kind of uniform Rin wears. They are Kaede, Sia and Nerine's little fan-clubs, they don't like anyone who hangs out with or talks to those three girls, so they'll try to cause some trouble."

"Well don't worry Courtney, I'll keep my eyes open - 'em buggers won't cause trouble for me."

Sadly, Laura was going to be proven wrong later on. After her trucks had been loaded up, she took them over to the yards where she arranged them into a long line.

"Alright Laura," said her Driver, "all the freight...ah, trucks are coupled up now, now all that's left is to wait for an all clear signal, then we'll head out."

"Hey Jim, have you eaten yet?"

"Not since breakfast why?"

"I'm just asking. Why don't you go get something to eat before we head out?"

"Well I guess I could get something to eat," he said, "I'll just shut off your engine and put on the brakes before I go." And that's just what Laura's Driver did, "I'll be back soon Laura."

No sooner was Laura's Driver was out of sight, then trouble snuck into the yards.

The three boys, who threw the eggs on Courtney and caused Emily's accident, were sneaking around the yard again. They were up to no good once more, "just look at this thing fellas," said one of the boys, "isn't it ugly?"

"It sure is, why is it here?" asked another boy.

"It's probably on it's way to be broken up," said the third boy, then a very stupid idea came popping into his head, "why don't we do the railroad a favour and get rid of this thing?"

"I don't know," said the second boy, "we're still in trouble for that accident we caused back in the summer."

"You got to stop being a little worry ward," said the first boy as he climbed up the stairs, "I say we get rid of this thing, you with me or are you out?"

The two foolish boys agreed to help and so, they followed their foolish friend into the cab.

"Huh?" Laura had been sleeping and had now been woken up by footsteps, "Jim? Is that you?"

Laura got no reply, "ah well," she yawned as she closed her eyes again, "it must be one of the cleaners."

Inside the cab, the boys were discussing plans on how they were going to get rid of Laura, "I say we take it to the district, they could dismental this piece of junk there," said the third boy, "now...how do you start this thing up?"

He opened up the throttle, but Laura did not move an inch.

"Ah, I think we should leave," said the second boy, "I don't want to be caught again."

"Fine then, go!" snapped the first boy, "we can do the work ourselves right?" he asked the third boy.

The Third boy didn't want to do this anymore, "if I get caught again, I'm going to be in real serious trouble with my parents. I'm out of here," and so the two boys walked away from the cab and out of the yards.

"Why those worry wards!" snapped the first boy, "fine, I'll do this alone."

He then started to fiddle around with the controls for a bit until he heard the motors turn on, "now we're talking," but he had completely forgotten something important.

Laura's Driver was just coming back into the yards when he saw his engine slowly starting to move, "what in blazes!" he cried, "Laura, where are you going?"

Upon hearing her Driver's shouts, Laura awoke to find herself moving, then she saw him standing close by.

"What? What's going on?" she cried, "why am I moving?"

"Uh-oh, I've been spotted," groaned the boy. He walked off to the other side of the diesel, walked along the pathway, then he jumped off the ladder and landed on the ballast.

"Help Jim! Help!" cried Laura.

Her Driver dropped his lunch and ran after his engine, hoping to catch up to her - but it was no use, Laura was picking up speed as she rumbled out of the yards, "LAURA!" cried her Driver.

The boy was caught by another worker, then he and Laura's Driver brought him over to the Man in the Suit's office, "oh no not you again," groaned the Man in the Suit, "what did you do this time?"

"I won't say," the boy said in a rude way.

"Laura is on the loose without anyone in her cab," said Laura's Driver, "no thanks to this little sneak."

The Man in the Suit was shocked when he heard that, "you mean to tell me we've got a runaway on the railroad?" he asked, Laura's Driver nodded his head, "how many trucks was she taking?"

"About forty nine trucks," he answered.

"You do realise that you are in big trouble young lad," the Man in the Suit said to the foolish boy, "now tell me, what postion was the throttle set in?"

"I don't know. I think it was 8," said the boy, the three men stared in shock, "that's not good is it?"

The Man in the Suit walked over to his desk, "I'm going to call the police and ask them to close off every crossing," he sighed unhappily, "once we have Laura safely back in the yards, I'll let the police have a serious chat with you."

At this time, Asa was walking past one of the level crossings on her way to the grogery store. As she was walking past, she saw the lights going off and the barriers going down, but there was no whistle and no horn.

"Odd," Asa thought to herself, "the Drivers usually whistle or honk before the crossings, so why..."

Her thoughts were cut off when she saw a police car pull in front of the crossing. The Officer stepped out of his car, and it's a good thing he did - cause another car slammed into his and pushed onto the tracks.

"Get away from the tracks!" cried the officer, "there's a runaway train coming!"

Within seconds, Laura came rumbling into view. She was screaming and begging to stop. When she saw the police car, she closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact.

Laura smashed right into the car and pushed it off onto the grassy field beside the line while she rattled past.

"Are you alright Officer?" Asa called.

"I'm alright, thanks for asking miss!" the officer called back. He then called in on his portable radio, "this is officer Junichi calling in, that runaway train has smashed into my patrol car, I wasn't able to see how fast it's going. My guess though it's going over forty."

"Excuse me," Asa called again, "What's going on here?"

"That train you saw flash by here - that was a runaway train," and the officer explained the story to Asa until the police cheif called in, "I'm still here sir."

"Was anyone injuried Officer Junichi?"

"Thankfully not," he said, "no one was hurt, although I can't say the same for my car."

The Officer then checked in on the other Driver, he wasn't hurt either, "I didn't mean to bump into your car, it's just my brakes, they're not working properly."

"You should get those brakes fixed sir," said the officer.

"I will sir," then the Driver asked, "how are they planning on stopping that train?" No one had any answers at the moment.

_**Courtney to the Rescue**_

Laura wasn't having a good run as she rattled down the tracks, she wanted to stop, but without her Driver in her cab - all she could do was to roll down the line in fear, "I hope they can stop me soon," she groaned.

At the next crossing, Laura could see police officers standing close by.

"Alright boys, get ready!" one of them called, "that train is coming now!"

"What are they doing?" Laura thought to herself. It soon came clear when she long black objects in the officers, she knew what they were, "I hope they're not planning on doing on what I think they're going to do."

"Aim! Fire!" shouted one of the officer as Laura reached the crossing. The officers fired shots at Laura's fuel cap, making her cry in worry, "stop shooting! You're blasting the fuel cap, stop it!"

The officers stopped firing. Their goal was to hit the fuel stop safety switch, but they didn't hit it - they nearly hit the fuel cap. The officers sighed in defeat and watched as Laura and her long goods train rattled on past.

"Now what are we going to do?" asked one of the officers.

"I don't know," another one said, "but I'm sure we'll think of something."

Further down the track, Courtney and her crew were puffing to one of the nearby sidings after being informed by the Man in the Suit of the runaway still in progress.

"Poor Laura, she must be terrified," Courtney was saying to her crew, "when will those boys ever learn?"

"Ah...it was just one boy this time Courtney," said her fireman, "his pals chickened out before he could start Laura."

The Driver kept a look out the window just in case.

At last, they reached the siding, the Driver grabbed for the brake handle and applied them carefully, "why are you braking?" asked the fireman.

"If we don't, then we're going to derail on the points..."

"I can see Laura!" cried Courtney. The Driver and fireman looked out the windows and sure enough, they could see Laura coming their way, "I hope we can get into the siding safely," Courtney thought to herself.

Courtney rolled into the siding with brakes screeching and sparks flying from them while Laura closed her eyes.

"They have to get at least ten trucks into the siding," said Drew, he was hanging out with Kaede and Rin, they were watching everything from the nearby street.

Luckily though, Courtney and the first ten trucks of her train _did_ get into the siding. But Courtney was not out of trouble - the brake van on the tail end of the train was smacked by Laura! It smashed into pieces and scattered everywhere while Laura blasted threw, luckily the guard had jumped out long before Laura smashed into the brake van, "I'm sorry!" she cried, "I didn't mean it!"

Courtney's Driver finally applied the brakes and brought his engine to a stop. He looked out the window to see the last truck of Laura's train pass - that's when he noticed that the rear knuckle was still open.

When Laura had passed, Kaede, Rin and Drew went over to check on Courtney and her crew.

"Are you guys okay?" Rin asked.

"We're fine," sighed Courtney, "although that was more thrilling than it should've been."

"Only the brake van was smashed," said the Driver as he got down from the cab, then he walked to the back of the tender.

"What are you doing?" Courtney asked.

"I took a look at the tail end of Laura's train, the rear knuckle coupling was open. So I think if we chase after her and couple up, we might be able to slow her down enough for someone to climb onboard and apply her brakes."

"It's risky," said the fireman, "but I'm willing to try."

"You're not alone," said Drew, "I'm coming along with you guys."

"Be careful," Kaede said nervously, "it could be dangerous."

"We'll be fine Kaede, we'll catch up to Laura and bring this runaway to a stop safely," with that said, Drew climbed on board, followed by Courtney's crew. Kaede and Rin went back to the street, then they watched as Courtney moved out of the siding, then after a few seconds - she puffed on down the line in reserve!

"We'll catch up to her, we'll catch up to her," puffed Courtney.

"Good luck!" Rin and Kaede called in unison.

Since Courtney was running in reserve, Drew stood out on the tender to keep an eye out for the runaway train and to judge the gap distance between the tender and the trucks when they finally caught up.

Further down the line, someone made an attempt to board Laura, but they couldn't because she was going much too fast.

To prevent her from crashing into the district shops, they changed the points leading to the other line that would lead to the Transfer Point line. The yard worker was about to change the points when Laura came into view.

"Change the blasted points!" cried Ken, who was on the same line as Laura, "otherwise she'll hit me!"

The worker ran quickly to the points - it was a close call, but he managed the points just in time. Somehow, Laura managed to stay on the tracks as she rolled over the points and disappeared into the distance.

Then Courtney came into view, "where did she go?" she called.

"She's heading for the Transfer Point Line!" called Ken, "good luck Courtney!"

It took a great deal of effort, but at last Courtney was able to catch up to the tail end of Laura's runaway train. The Driver kept Courtney up to speed while Drew told him to either speed up or slow down and the fireman shovelled more coal into the firebox.

"Okay here she comes, easy does it!" called Drew.

At last, there was the sound of a 'clunk' as Courtney's rear knuckle coupling was coupled to the tail end of Laura's train. All would've been well, except that the pin on Courtney's tender coupling didn't fall, so they weren't coupled up.

"I'm going down there," called Drew, "keep Courtney at this speed!"

The Driver did as he was told. Drew fiddled around with the pin several times, but try as he might, it wouldn't fall. "Come on you!" groaned Drew. It took a great deal of effort, but at last he got the pin to fall, "alright, she's coupled up!"

Drew climbed up the ladder, then he held on tight to the rim of the coal bunker.

"Alright Courtney," said her Driver, "this may hurt your wheels for a bit. Time to play a little tug of war," he then opened the regulator and Courtney pulled hard on the tail end of the train.

As good as her efforts were though, Laura was stronger than Courtney, which meant that the japanese engine was being dragged.

"Alright, now what?" asked the fireman.

"Alternate full throttle with the brakes!" called Drew, "it's a theory, but if it works, then we can slow that runaway down!"

And so, the Driver did what Drew said - the brakes groaned as they skidded on the rails, sparked went flying everywhere. Courtney groaned a little bit, but she did her best not to scream.

"Our speed is dropping, your plan is working Drew!" called the Driver.

"For now, but who knows for how long," Drew called back, "it depends on how long can Courtney's brakes last!"

They had no need to worry. One of the workers from Ken's workshop was standing near the tracks and timing his movement. Thanks to Courtney, he was able to jump onto the stairwell and get into the cab of the big diesel.

Within seconds, the worker was able to apply the brakes and bring the train to a stop. Both Laura and Courtney sighed in relief, "okay, I think I've had enough thrills for one day," Courtney said quietly.

Courtney towed Laura and her train back to the shops, where they left the trucks, then she towed the big diesel back to the yards where the Man in the Suit was waiting for them.

"Well done all of you," he said, "it was a very dangerous and risky rescue mission, but you all did a grand job in bringing this runaway to a stop. Also, you'll be happy to know that the boy responsible for the runaway has been taken to the police station where they said they'll have a serious talk with him."

He then turned his attention to Courtney, "I'm proud of you too Courtney, as a reward, you can have a new coat of paint," he said proudly.

Courtney beamed happily, "thank you very much sir."

A little later, Courtney was waiting at the dockyards for her final train of the day to be loaded up before she could head off for the district. Her Driver came up to the front to speak to her, "you did a great job Courtney, I'm proud of you girl, you deserve that new coat of paint."

"Thank you, but I couldn't have done without you, my fireman or Drew, we were a great team today."

At last her train was ready, the guard blew his whistle and Courtney puffed off for the district. As she passed the sheds, she could hear the other engines whistle and honk salutes to her, while Nerine, Sia, Drew, Kaede, Asa, Rin and Primula waved to her. Courtney smiled and blew her whistle back to her friends until she was out of sight.

**Author's Note:**

This story was deeply inspired by the real life event of a runaway CSX freight train that ran along the single tracked main line with a forty nine car freight train in 2001. The police shooting at the fuel cap and Courtney's coupling up to Laura's train was also inspired by the same real life event. Drew's dangerous stunt, Laura smashing the last truck of Courtney's train and the worker's act to change the points outside the district shop are purely fictional.

_**The End!**_


	19. Luke and the Diesel Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 19**_

_**Luke and the Diesel Engines**_

_**Based on the original "Luke the Diesel Engine" volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000 and Ketchum Kid**_

Dear Friends,

_In the book, 'Transfer Point Engines', Luke the Diesel Engine told off a story about his brother 'Max' and how he met his downfall. But what about the rest of his brothers and sisters back on the Other Railway? Well most recently, Luke told off some interesting stories of some of his brothers and sisters, two of which were badly behaved like Max and like him, they were soon put in their place. Anyhow, here are the stories Luke told._

The Authors

**Stories Included:**

-Ronald's Just Desserts

-Stephine Learns a Lesson

-The Finale of Melody

-A Diesel's Last Hope

*Special Thanks goes to Ketchum Kid for writing up stories 1 & 3 of this book.

_**Ronald's Just Desserts**_

_**Written by: Ketchum Kid**_

Even the day after the runaway, Laura was still sulking in the sheds. Li, who was still there awaiting his driver, did his best to cheer her up, but the big yellow diesel would not change her melancholic tune.

"My run was going so well," she moaned. "Yet those boys gave me a chance to be in the limelight as a yellow battering ram. I'm sure that the Man in the Suit has a bad impression of me now."

"You can check with him now," Li noted. "He just heard everything." Indeed, the Man in the Suit was leaning against the Pennsylvanian engine's frame. He turned to Laura.

"Laura, you are not to blame for the accident. That group of kids has been a nuisance to my line since around the time Thomas first visited. Rest assured, it is not in anyone's interests to see you go away. Besides, I have a special treat in store for you. Courtney was supposed to take a special today, but we discovered that her heroic actions wore out her brake shoes, so she's out of commission for another day. Li's too small to run the train, and Luke doesn't have knuckle couplings, so you're our only option."

"If it makes you feel any better," Li suggested, "think of it as a way for people to see you in a better light. The special is a business train for potential customers along our line."

"Not just our line," the Man in the Suit corrected. "I also invited a special guest to come as well. Since she has saved our line on numerous occasions, you'll probably recognize her. Ah, here she comes. And by the looks of it, she brought a friend." A pair of familiar blue and orange haired figures walked over to the engines. Li was the first to call out to them.

"Nerine! Kaede!"

"Hello, Li!" Nerine replied. "I was a little surprised that I would be invited to something that relates more to the business side of the line."

"Nonsense!" the Man in the Suit stated. "Ever since you helped sort out that mess between Courtney and Rick, you and your friends have helped me in more ways than I can count. I'm trusting you more and more on this railroad, and I want to see if you can be able to fulfill my duties should I ever be in absence of my railway."

"U-um, is it alright that I'm here?" Kaede spoke up. "Nerine told me that she was too nervous going alone, so she asked me to come on the journey."

"Of course!" the Man in the Suit replied. "The more the merrier! Besides, you can talk to the others when you see them." And she did, when the special reached the station at the junction of the commuter line. Li and Luke were working near the station, putting the last touches on the junction area. At least, they had been working.

"Stupid local ordinance," Li muttered. "Why must they prevent us from working on finishing the line while non-personnel such as Nerine and the businessmen tour the area?"

"I'm sure there's a good reason," Kaede stated. "A 'baka' law did bring Toby to Sodor after all, so I think that there will be some good that can come out of this one."

"Besides," Luke added, "it gives us some time to shoot some breeze, if you will. Laura, how are you enjoying Tokyo, aside from yesterday, of course?

"This is a wonderful place indeed," Laura answered. "But those boys weren't. They were almost as bad as the turbines that I helped replaced. Let me tell you, those things were a nasty piece of work, always thinking that they know best, and whining about it to all who didn't care to listen."

"Courtney once mentioned that to me that she met a turbine before Ken and I came here," Li stated. "I'll have to ask her again on what happened."  
"Is there anyone that you met that was about as mean as those kids?" Laura asked. "Or, at least, were as foolish to think they were proud, yet met an untimely downfall?"

"Well, there was Van," the Tank Engine replied. "He and his driver thought they were hot stuff, until I took him out…twice."

"Don't forget that the second time was because of Sakura," Kaede added. "After she damaged both you and the yards, of course." That left one engine.

"What about you, Luke?" Laura wondered. Li had an idea.

"I'm guessing that you'll talk about 'Mad Max' again, right?"

"Actually, I was going to say Ronald." Li and Kaede were confused.

"Huh?"

"Who's Ronald?" Laura asked.

"As Li and Kaede already know," Luke explained, "I used to be stationed at the docks and junction at Barrow-in-Furness, just a stone's throw away from the Island of Sodor. I wasn't alone in that job, though; my brothers Jacob, Marcas, Lucas, and Ronald, as well as my sisters Melody and Stephnie, also worked the sidings there to make sure everything ran like clockwork."

"Back up a second," Li interrupted. "Where's Max in this picture? I know he was horrid and all, but he is your brother after all. Do consider him in the picture."

"Well," Luke answered, "by the time this tale took place, you could say that Max had already been, ah, 'lit up', so to speak. Anyway, after Max was gone, Ronald became the ogre of our little section of the National Railway."

"How bad was he?" Kaede questioned, intrigued.

"I'll tell you." And this was the story that Luke told the three:

Ronald was very much a clone of Max, apart from the fact that he knew not to bump trucks loaded with dangerous cargo. Even so, there was little to stop Ronald from bashing into trucks whenever he was taken out of the sheds. Many times, he damaged or destroyed entire trucks, spilling cargo and causing confusion and delay. Customers began to complain, and the Other Railway Controller frequently left Ronald in the shed. However, there were times that all the engines were needed to operate the yard, and so Ronald was still able to play his tricks.

"Come on, you rotting maggots!" he would yell. "Get moving so I won't have to see your loser faces again!"

"OW! OW! OW!" the trucks would complain. "Not so rough! Not so rough!" His driver did nothing to help the situation.

"That's showing them, old boy!" he would yell. "Keep it up!" He was having too much fun watching it all. Ronald's rude behavior wasn't limited to the trucks, however.

"You useless steam kettles!" he jeered one night in the sheds. "You dirty thugs are spoiling our railway's good image! It's no wonder that the executives in London are scrapping the whole lot of you!"

"Rubbish!" James huffed. He was staying over that night with Edward, while Luke's sister Melody arranged a special construction train for them to bring to Tidmouth that would rebuild Duck's Branchline. "It's YOU who are spoiling the scenery around here! Do you see the trainspotters running to your berths in the sheds to collect your number? No! They head to the steam engine, the finest thing that will ever run on two rails!"

"Besides," Murdoch added, "while I'm fair to all, I have yet to see a diesel name that invokes such feelings like the names Flying Scotsman or City of Truro!"

"We don't need fancy names to keep our pride up, nor do we need the attention that it brings! We are masterpieces of art just as we are! We are the next evolution of modern technology! AND, we've already conquered the Yankee's railways! It's only a matter of time before you buckets end up melted down and remolded as the rails that we run on!"

"ENOUGH!" Jacob boomed. He was the wisest shunter among the engines at Barrow. "Have you no shame to your elders, Ronald? Without steam engines, we would not have any rails to run on! They paved the way for the trucks that you make a living shunting-!"

"I don't have a care in the world for your sermons, Jake!" Ronald snapped. "If you ask me, steam engines should be seen and not heard, especially as they get pushed into the cutter's yards!"

"Same goes for you, toaster!" James interjected.

"It's no use arguing with him, James," Edward groaned. "He really doesn't have any respect for steam engines, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Besides, The Fat Controller would never allow such a thing to happen on our railway under his watch."

"Do you think that your obese little cricket ball has any say in this matter?" Ronald sneered. The other engines were horrified. Even among the diesels, disrespecting a Controller like that was considered taboo.

"Ronald!" Jacob gasped.

"Have you no shame?-!" Murdoch cried.

"That's crossing the line!" Luke hissed. James had had enough.

"Come on, Edward! That pink toaster should be done sorting our train by now! And if she isn't, I'll do it myself!" And he stormed off as soon as the turntable was aligned to his track. Edward sighed.

"As much as Ronald's behavior was uncalled for, please forgive James as well," he said to the other engines. "Ever since we had a diesel trick us in our own yards, he's never taken a liking to them. I better make sure he's calmed down." The blue engine followed James out of the sheds.

"You're not helping your case by mouthing off, Ron," Luke noted.

"It's not mouthing off if it's the truth," the rude shunter retorted.

"Well, the truth hurts a lot," Jacob explained. "Imagine how I felt when I was first told that I had been built with an unreliable engine block, and needed to go and have it replaced."

"I remember that all too well. It was surprisingly quiet, not hearing your complaining about my ethics." Thinking that he had said enough, he purred contently out of the sheds.

"The truth isn't the only thing that hurts," Murdoch noted. He was staring out into the yard, where Melody passed by James. The pink diesel engine immediately lost her cheerful face when the red engine shouted something to her. "Ron will get his dues soon. No engine, steam or diesel, gets away with that behavior for long."

"The question is whether we'll be around to see it," Jacob wondered. None of the engines had an answer. Luke finally spoke up.

"We can only hope…" The engines looked up into the night sky, hoping in vain that there was an answer among the stars.

As it turned out, both Ronald and Edward were right, as change began to sweep the area. Steam did vanish from the mainland, but remained in Barrow with the Fat Controller's presence. Murdoch was sent to a heritage line, Oliver was escorted on his last leg to Sodor, and the Flying Scotsman came and went. Ronald, however, remained the same. He ridiculed Sodor's engines, both steam and diesel, whenever the chance arose. However, there were many times when there were only his brothers and sisters around, so Ronald turned to his next favorite verbal and physical punching bag – the trucks.

"Old wooden relics!" he growled, shunting them into place. "You're not worthy of the materials you were built with! You should be turned into the sleepers that hold up my rails!" The trucks had begun to snap their last strings of tolerance.

"Who's he to tell us what we should be made of?"

"Without us, he'd be outta've a job!"

"We'll show him what some rotten 'sleepers' can do!"

"Not yet! Not yet! Wait for when the time's right." And so the trucks waited, formulating their plan to pay Ronald out.

Their chance came sooner than expected. A few days later, before the Sun began its trek across the sky, Luke and Ronald were the first engines working the yard. They had just finished setting up a rake of empty vans for Henry to take back with him on the Flying Kipper, and were preparing to shunt trucks bound for points on the mainland, when Arthur bustled into the yard from his branchline. The Mainline Tank Engine was hauling vans from the fishing village that were to be placed with the cars from the Kipper.

"Drop those rotten trucks at the station!" Ronald hollered. "We don't want your sooty wheels turning up our tracks! Then, head over to the smelters and be cut up for scrap!" Luke finally snapped. He was on the yard lead with a string of coal trucks. As soon as he cleared the switch to the mainline, he stopped, and refused to move. It caught Ronald by surprise, and he nearly rammed into his train as he backed out with his own trucks.

"Oy, Luke!" Ronald's driver yelled. "Get a move on!"

"We have trucks to deliver too, ya know!" Ronald added. Luke held firm.

"Not with that behavior!" the green diesel snarled. "You're just like Max was, Ron: a bully! Thinking only about yourself, hurting the feelings of both engines and trucks alike…I'm sick of staying on the sidelines, watching you have your way! I'm not moving until you promise never to hurt them again!"

"Oh yeah?" Ronald sneered. "You and what army?"

"I'm the army!" That voice belonged to the Other Railway Controller. He had heard everything. "Ronald, what is the meaning of this?-!"

"Isn't it obvious?" he snickered. "Misguided Luke here wants these museum pieces to still run on our splendid line, while I say that they should be left to rot with those steamies that we got rid of!"

"The only thing that will be left to rot is you if you continue this derogatory behavior!" the Other Railway Controller bellowed. "Finish with your work, then go back to the sheds! I'll leave you there until I decide it's time for you to come out!" he then left for his office. Ronald made a face behind the Other Railway Controller's back.

"Like I'll listen to him. So driver, how are we going to get these relics into order? Doing it in one move is too much with Luke holed up onto the lead." Indeed, Ronald's cut snaked along behind him, and back onto the track that he had pulled the trucks from.

"We can still do it in one try," his driver replied. "If we use a bit of the mainline, we can avoid uncoupling the trucks until they are placed onto the proper sidings. I'll tell the signalman to change the points once the Kipper passes through."

"What a pleasant idea!" Ronald exclaimed. "That'll show our controller who's the best engine in the yard!" Ronald's prideful chuckle drowned out any chance of him hearing the chatter of the trucks behind him.

Soon, Henry came into view with the Flying Kipper. The green engine grimaced when he saw Ronald, and wheeshed steam at him as he passed by. "Find a nice little isolated siding to rot your last days on!"

"Only after your beloved trees begin to grow out of your rusted frame!" the diesel hissed back. Soon, the line was clear, and the points were set for Ronald to use his new yard lead. The diesel backed out onto the main line. He had a very long line of loaded cars, and was ten truck lengths out onto the mainline before the last car cleared the yard ladder, and his driver shut off the throttle. This was the cue for the trucks.

"On! On! On!" they yelled, and banging their buffers, they surged forward, pushing Ronald further down the line.

"Be quiet, you!" he snapped. "Stop this utter nonsense!" This only motivated the trucks even further. Ronald's driver scrambled for the brakes, but they were useless on the downward grade to Sodor with the loaded trucks shoving them down the line.

The Walney Channel, which split the Island of Sodor from the mainland, was spanned by a double track Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge. The bridge tender and rolling portion of the bridge were both on the Sudrian side of the channel, as per the agreement when the line was first built. The bridge tender had just fully raised the bridge, and was looking forward to a rest until the next train came through from Sodor, when he spotted Ronald, with his brakes locked and a trail of sparks gushing from his wheels, cruising towards the bridge.

"Sweet Topham Hatt!" he exclaimed. He hastily began to lower the bridge, but that was a process that took time, something Ronald did not have a lot of.

"Please stop!" the diesel cried, panicking. He couldn't see the bridge, but he knew it was approaching fast. "I swear I'll never make fun of you again if you just stop now! PLEASE!" The trucks didn't listen at all, and continued to push against him. The bridge drew closer, and Ronald shut his eyes. A sickening crash and crunch emanated from the bridge when the two metal forces collided.

Luke and the others were able to see the damage for themselves when Henry dragged him to the sheds on a flatbed. Ronald was in very bad shape. His cab was completely destroyed by the impact with the bridge, as were his back wheels, and his frame was bent inward onto itself. He looked very miserable, especially when the Other Railway Controller came to see him.

"Well, I guess this is what you deserve after mistreating the trucks," he sighed. "A lesson for all should be learned here."

"I'm really sorry, sir," Ronald apologized. "Now can you please get me fixed?" The Other Railway Controller shook his head.

"Your behavior just jammed the moveable bridge to Sodor for the next few days. If I let those workmen repair you, you'll just go back to the way you've been acting for years, and we risk something on par or worse than hat just happened. Your parts are more valuable than the whole, so we will take you apart and use your parts to keep your brethren in good order." Ronald was shocked.

"Please sir, don't do that! I'll be good, I promise!"

"No amount of remorse will save you now, Ronald. Your career's over." With that said, the Other Railway Controller walked away. Henry chuckled. The green engine didn't like that he was sending an engine to its final resting place, but he was glad that the engine happened to be a rude diesel.

"Let's find that nice little siding we talked about earlier, shall we?" Poor Ronald couldn't muster a reply, as Henry shunted him onto a track behind the sheds.

"I never saw any trace of him again," Luke finished, "nor did any of my siblings. As far as everybody knew, he was broken up, and parted as the need arose. Who knows, I might even have his engine block inside of me right now."

"How awful," Kaede sighed. She had been greatly interested in Luke's story.

"He deserved it," Li huffed. "Just desserts should be given where needed."

"Still, it's never a good thing for an engine to be told that he or she is no longer needed," Laura stated. "Even if they happen to be a nasty prick."  
"Are there any other stories about your time at Barrow?" Kaede asked.

"You want to hear more?" Luke inquired. Everyone nodded.

"Yes please!" they all said.

"I'd love to say more," the diesel replied, "but it looks like everyone's ready to get moving." The Man in the Suit was ushering the businessmen back into Laura's train.

"Bother!" Li groaned. "Guess we'll have to take a rain check, then." Luke had an idea.

"Tell you what: We'll continue this tonight, when Courtney returns to the sheds. Kaede, you are free to bring Rin, Primula, or anyone else that you want to invite." With that, Luke set off with his train up the commuter line. Kaede met back up with Nerine on the train, and Laura and Li went back to work, eager anticipation for the night brimming inside of all three of them.

_**Stephine Learns a Lesson**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Later that evening, Courtney returned to the sheds with her new coat of paint shining brightly and new brake blocks, she also had a smile on her face, "welcome back Courtney," said Laura, "I've been meaning to say sorry for what happened yesterday."

"You don't need to be sorry whatsoever Laura," Courtney said kindly, "it wasn't your fault, it was that baka that caused you to run away."

"Luckily though there wasn't much damaged," Li added, "besides to that police car. Anyways, we were talking about the troublemakers in the past, you've dealt with a troublemaker before Ken and I came here right Courtney?"

"Yeah I did, that turbine named Stephen, oh was he ever a terror. He was one rude engine, he showed no respect and never obeyed by the rules. Then one day, I told him to be careful around one of the new sidings in the yards, but he wouldn't listen to me and ran onto that line - well, he soon regreted that decision when he bounced off the tracks and he damaged himself badly."

"So what happened to Stephen?" another voice asked, it was Nerine. She had returned with Sia, Kaede, Asa, Rin, Primula and Drew.

"The Man in the Suit sent him back to his owner," Courtney's Driver answered as he climbed down from the cab, "he also wrote, 'do not send this engine back, he was nothing but trouble'."

"Was he repaired before being sent back?" Laura asked.

"Not at all, the Man in the Suit sent him back all broken," answered Courtney, "he said it would serve Stephen right for his antics and that maybe it would teach him a few lessons."

Luke was being backed into the sheds, he had overheard what Courtney had just said, "with the way you were talking there, it almost reminded me of what happened to Stephine."

"Do you mean one of your sisters?" Kaede asked.

"Yes I do mean one of my sisters. Although she wasn't as bad as Ronald and Max, she still had a bad attitude and wouldn't follow all of the rules of our yards or the main line - it was actually because of that attitude of hers that she met with her downfall."

"Could you tell us about what happened?" asked Sia.

"Of course I'll tell you my friends," said Luke and he began to tell the next story.

Stephine did have a bit of a bad attitude in the yards. She would bump her trucks roughly around the yards, nearly causing them to break into pieces. She would race through the yards at dangerous speeds, which made the workmen worry about crossing the lines. She was also rude to the other engines, including Melody the Pink kind hearted diesel, who does get offended quite easily.

"You're a slow gal you know that?" Stephine said rudely one evening in the sheds, "in one hour, you only arrange two trains into place while _I_ can arrange up to six trains in an hour."

"It's only because you dash through the yards like a jackrabbit," said Jacob, "Melody may work at a slower pace, but at least she doesn't cause damage to the trucks like some engines I could mention."

"It doesn't really matter if those old rust buckets on wheels are damaged, they're on their last wheels anyways."

"You're sounding more and more like Ronald and Max did," groaned Luke, "I advise you to be careful in the yards Stephine, otherwise you might meet the same fate as those two did."

"Pah!" she sniffed, she wasn't convinced at all.

Instead of listening to the advice given to her, Stephine did the complete opposite the next morning when she was shunting in the yards.

"Stop bumping us!" groaned the trucks, "it hurts!"

"Stop your stupid complaining already!" Stephine snapped crossly, "trucks should be seen and not heard." With that said, she charged in to bump the trucks again.

She did that to every truck she had to shunt until she had arranged three trains together for the main line. The trucks felt sore after all that shunting, Stephine on the other hand, felt pleased with herself, "now that's how you shunt," she said proudly.

"Well I wouldn't call it perfect shunting," said her Driver, "you nearly damaged three of the trucks."

"Like I always say 'who cares about the trucks?' They will soon be replaced anyways."

"You and that tounge of yours," snarled one of the trucks, but Stephine didn't hear what it said. Instead, she rumbled away to take on more fuel before her next job.

Her reckless behaviour continued until one night when she was asked to take a loaded goods train to another yard and bring back a loaded train. She arrived with time to spare, "let's get that train and let's go!" she grumbled.

But there was a problem, her Driver wasn't feeling well. A yard worker took him off to the station while a relief man took his place.

Thanks to the relief man, Stephine's train was soon arranged and she was coupled up. Then once she got the all clear signal, she rumbled off back to the yards, picking up speed as she rumbling along.

"Now I'll show Melody how to get the job done," she thought to herself. Or so she thought...

Further down the line, there was trouble - a bi-plane was passing that area, when suddenly it's engine started coughing and wheesing, then it started to go down towards the railway bridge. The pilot tried hard, but he couldn't stop the plane from falling. In a desperate act, he opened up his parachute and jumped clear.

His plane went crashing into the bridge, smashing that one section off and making it crash to the ground.

"Oh no," groaned the pilot, "I need to warn the railway!"

But by then, it was too late. Stephine could be seen coming towards the damaged bridge. The pilot got out a flask and lit it, he waved it back and forth, hoping that Stephine's Driver would see it.

Stephine's relief Driver did see it, "what is that?" he asked.

"Stop! STOP!" cried Stephine, "part of the bridge is gone!"

Upon hearing this, Stephine's relief Driver applied the brakes, but with the weight of the trucks behind her and her speed, she wasn't going to be able to stop in time. The relief Driver held onto the brakes as hard as he could, but it was no use. Just before they reached the gap, the Driver jumped from the cab and landed on the hard packed ballast.

"OH HELP!" cried Stephine, but of course, no one could.

The pilot, who was now a safe distance away from the bridge, watched in horror as Stephine flew off the bridge and down to the ground below. Half her train followed her off the bridge - the noise was deafening! Clouds of dust flew everywhere, it was hard to see what happened to Stephine and her train.

When at last the dust settled and the noise had dived down, the relief Driver and the pilot went to check on the damage done. It was bad. Stephine's cab had been crushed under the weight of the trucks, her side panals had been ripped right off and her wheels were either cracked or gone. She wasn't out of danger though, her fuel tanks were leaking fuel and the flames from the damaged bi-plane were getting closer to her.

Luckily, someone had seen the bi-plane crash and had phoned the fire bargade. They were able to put out the fire, just in the nick of time too.

"A few more minutes, and that diesel would be up in flames," said one of the firemen.

It was another hour before the breakdown train was brought to the scene of destruction, then once Stephine and the damaged trucks were on the flatbeds, she was taken back to her yards.

The Other Railway Controller had ordered Jacob to shunt her into a siding out of the way, "we'll deal with her later," he said.

"She had been damaged beyond repair," Luke continued, "so a few days later, she was sent off for scrap. Before she was sent off though, she said 'Slower is safer'."

"So in a way," Courtney spoke up, "she did learn her lesson."

"Yes, but it came much too late for her," Luke concluded his story on a sad note.

"And what about Stephine's Driver?" Li asked, "what happened to him?"

"He came down with the flu that night, he recovered from it a few days later, only to find out that his engine had been sent away for scrap. The Other Railway Controller had him transferred to Sodor, I don't know what he did afterwords," Luke paused before continuing, "following that accident, Marcus' attitude improved and he became a well mannered engine."

"It seems that Stephine not only_ learned _a lesson," said Sia, "but she also _taught_ a lesson."

"In a sense, yes she did."

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by a real life event where a bi-plane had smashed into a bridge after the engine stopped working, the pilot had jumped out long before the crash. A main line engine couldn't stop in time and flew off the bridge with more than half of it's train. When and where it happened is unknown.

_**The Finale of Melody**_

_**Written by: Ketchum Kid**_

A rather long, uncomfortable silence followed the previous story. Finally, Asa spoke up. "Did anything else exciting happen when you were at Barrow, Luke?"

"Not for a long time," the diesel stated. "Many uneventful years passed. The work remained brisk. Sometimes, other engines were assigned to help the shunting work, but they came and went without a care from us; they never took pride in what they did, unlike us. Then…privatization came."

"Privatization?" Kaede asked.

"The government was beginning to see the National Railway as a burden, and sold the organization piecemeal to private companies. By then, we were solely working on goods duties, as diesel multiple unit trainsets powered all trains that weren't bound for Sodor, and the North Western switched the other passenger trains. The Other Railway Controller, now in his advanced years, accepted an executive position on the goods company, and left Barrow in the hands of a new, young kid from Oxford. We only knew him as the Controller from Oxford; he was too grumpy and cruel to us to bother with his name." Courtney didn't like the sound of that.

"Why?" she asked. "Was he a bad controller?"

"Not bad, just cruel to older engines like myself. The Controller from Oxford detested the use of older equipment: 'I do not care for your maintenance. We have too many old engines on the line, so the sooner you see the scrapyard, the better it is for my bottom line!'"

"Talk about the exact opposite of the Man in the Suit," Li grumbled.

"Or the Fat Controller," Rin added.

"Fortunately, our drivers had other plans. They managed to scour parts from scrapyards and such while they were off-duty, and were able to keep us in good working order. No matter where the Controller from Oxford looked, he could only see really useful engines, and had no choice but to keep us in service. However, we knew that the day would come when one of us would have a significant failure; it was only a matter of who and when."

"So who was it that failed first?" Laura asked. Luke sighed, and looked out the nearest window.

"I hate to say it, but fate has a way to take the nicest people in the world away from us first…Of all of us, Melody was hit the hardest. Her proud pink paint became tattered and faded to the point that it looked more pale than anything else; and the verbal abuse from Stephanie was nothing compared to the Controller from Oxford. Her cheerful disposition became severely depressed, and all our attempts to cheer her up failed. Finally, the dreadful day came…":

It was a wet and dreary day at Barrow station. A new locomotive was purring nicely on one of the tracks, awaiting its first major road test. Several railway personnel were on hand for the event, including the Other Railway Controller, the Controller from Oxford, and the Fat Controller. The test taking place was a haulage test. Two trains from Sodor would be combined together hauled to the next city. Melody was on hand to switch the trains together when they arrived. Luke was watching from a nearby siding, as his driver worked furiously to replace a broken siderod. Everyone was waiting for the first train to arrive…twenty minutes ago. The Controller from Oxford was getting impatient.

"Where's that old steam train?" he complained. "I don't want to have to cancel this test on account of a stupid old kettle!"

"Easy there, young fellow," the Other Railway Controller urged. "Stephen here's a prominent man in the practice of railroad efficiency, even if it is with steam engines." He then turned to the Fat Controller. "Who was supposed to take the train?"

"James took the first section that is to be used. Ah, look! Here he comes now!" Smoke could be seen coming over the drawbridge, signaling that a steam engine was coming over from Sodor. However, something was off.

"I hate to say it," an observer noted, "but that's three smoke columns, not one." Sure enough, rounding the curve and red in their faces were Donald and Douglas, followed by a very long line of trucks. Sandwiched two-thirds through the middle of the train was James. He was barely in steam, and looked really glum.

"Sorry aboot runnin' behind, sirs," Donald apologized.

"Yon James blew is enjector," Douglas explained. "We had ta drag him and his train all da way frem Henry's Tunnel."

"That's alright, Donald and Douglas," the Fat Controller said. "At the very least, you managed to stop this mess from causing too much confusion and delay. Now you better go and switch James out of the consist, and let the new engine couple up."

"I don't think there is a need for you to overstep your boundaries, Sir," the Controller from Oxford sharply interrupted. "Do you forget that our railway switches goods traffic from this yard? Melody will handle the shunting business." Douglas wasn't so sure.

"Beg me pardon, sir, bet we had problems with the train weth two engines! Surely you dinna think that a single shunter can move the train!"

"Then that means that you're overworked, weak, and old; that's why you're on Sodor, and not in Scotland or anywhere else in England!" The twins looked hurt, but the Fat Controller gestured to them not to retaliate. "Now Melody, get that red wart out of the consist, then push the train behind the new engine."

"Y-Yes, sir, I'll try." Melody wasn't sure that she could move the heavy train either, but she buffered up to the rear of the train anyway. Donald and Douglas were uncoupled, and Melody set off to work. "Come on! Come-on-come-on-come-on!" Slowly but surely, the train was pulled beyond the nearest switch to the other track, and past a loop track. There, the two brakevans and James were set aside out of the way. When Melody was recoupled to the train, she was right next to James. The red engine could see that Melody was red in the face from moving the heavy train.

"Are you alright, Melody?" he asked. Since learning that not all diesels on the Other Railway were bad, he had felt guilty for lashing out at the pink diesel many years ago. "That train's too heavy for you!"

"It is," Melody confirmed. "But I already see the end of the tracks; the Controller from Oxford will get a lot of these new engines, forcing other engines onto lesser work, which would be my jobs. Don't you see? These trains will be the death of myself, Luke, Jacob, and all of my siblings here!"

"Not necessarily!" James argued. "You could be put in a museum, or bought up by a heritage line. The Fat Controller could even use you; we do need a permanent shunter at Tidmouth."

"The offer is tempting, but the Controller from Oxford has yet to sell a single engine on our part of the line; they've all either been wrecked or scrapped. My time will be at hand soon. It's best that I be remembered for going out as a really useful engine." She began to push the train up to the points for the other line. However, the trucks were bored from having to adhere to Donald and Douglas's orders, and saw their chance for mischief.

"Hold back! Hold back!" they giggled. The train began to go slower and slower, but Melody refused to give up. She pushed harder and harder, and was about to clear the first set of points, when it happened. A spluttering sound came out of Melody's engine block, followed by thick, black smoke. The train jerked to a sudden halt, fouling both lines, with poor Melody having blown a piston head.

"Losh shakes!" Douglas exclaimed. "The wee engine's in trouble!"

"Let her stay there," the Controller from Oxford grunted. "Luke will come with a brakevan and shunt her onto the train. Then she'll be taken to a scrapyard." The crowd couldn't believe their ears.

"What for?" the Other Railway Controller questioned. "It looks like the only thing that's wrong with Melody's a blown piston. Nothing that requires major rebuilds."

"The reason that we should keep her is what exactly?" he retorted. "Remember that the reason that this happened was because of a failed steam kettle!"

"Hold your wheesh!" Donald hissed. "Dinna say anythin' bad aboot the Fat Controller's engines!"

"I have the right to say anything that I want to say!" the Controller from Oxford snapped. "You engines are long overdue for scrapping! America had it right; they got rid of steam, then their replacements, and then the replacements' replacements, all in ten to fifteen year spans! Each with greater efficiency than their predecessors!"

"But with less personality, no doubt!" the Fat Controller interjected. "If you think that I will stand by idly as you berate my railway, then you are sadly mistaken! My engines work just as hard as your pampered new diesels, maybe even better!"

"Rubbish! How can a senile engine possibly be better than the march of technology?-! Time stands for -!" The argument was interrupted when a thump was heard on the tracks behind them. The controllers turned to see that a crippled James had pushed the train into position.

"Senile, huh?" the red engine groaned. "I don't see any of those new-fangled engines running with injuries now, do I?" The Controller from Oxford looked scornfully at James.

"All the better, now! We can put the breakvan behind James and scrap him as well!"

"You've gone mad!" the Fat Controller gasped.

"No, I'm just an enlightened industrial prophet in the sea of morons! And it's a wonder why the engines were asking for an overhaul: guys like you pamper them to the extreme!"

"Are you saying that you've deferred maintenance on the engines?-!"

"It was all for the sake of the bottom line! We can't be wasting money on trivial matters, and I was simply doing my part!"

"ENOUGH!-!" boomed the Other Railway Controller. He was very red in the face, and was very cross. "All you've been doing is working everyone to the bone, and turning away those who say otherwise! It's demoralized the engines, and now has caused confusion and delay! From a distance, it looks like Luke's in no shape to move, and the others don't have drivers at the moment, so Stephen, do you mind if I borrow Donald and Douglas for a bit?"

"Not at all!" the Fat Controller replied. "Be good now, Donald and Douglas!"

"Yes sir!" they replied. Donald went to fetch a brakevan, while Douglas took James and Melody out of the consist. Within five minutes, everything was sorted out, and the new engine was underway with the train. Douglas took Melody to a siding by the sheds. While they were uncoupling, the pink diesel had a question for James.

"Why'd you come and help me?" she asked. "Both of us were failed engines; why strain yourself even more?"

"And leave you at the hands of that Oxford idiot?" the red engine stated. "That guy needed to be shown that a really useful engine isn't limited to the newest ones on the iron."

"The Other Railway Controller is gittin' the Oxford laddie sacked," Douglas informed her. "When he does, he's gonna sell ye to the Fat Controller, who'll get ye repairs and a new coat of paint. Ye'll never hafta worry aboot meetin' the scrapper again!"

"Really?" Melody gasped, surprised. She then let out a soft smile. "I'm glad…thank you guys so much for helping today."

"Don't mention it," Douglas said. "Me an' Donnie were in ye position once before, so eet's only naturael not ta help anyone in a similar state. Goodbye, lasse!" Douglas returned to the mainline with James, bound for Crovans Gate. Melody closed her weary eyes. The smoke had long stopped pouring out of her frame, and she sat cold and comfortably on the siding.

"Well, Stephine, I hope you're proud of me," she murmured. "I didn't hesitate or give in one bit today. I went out being really useful…"

"…but she never made it through the night," Luke finished. Everyone was confused.

"Why?" Primula wondered.

"She was set aside for preservation," Asa stated. "They couldn't have scrapped her, right?"

"I'm not so sure," Drew said. "In the states, Metra once scrapped a private steam engine that was awaiting a move off its property, so I wouldn't put it past that Controller from Oxford to do the same."

"And that's precisely what happened, Drew." Everyone turned to see the Man in the Suit walk into the sheds.

"Sir!" Courtney gasped. "You were there that day?" The Man in the Suit nodded.

"Yes, Courtney. Back then, I did not own a railroad, but I had invested in the goods company a bit, and was allowed to attend the trial run. When we got back, the Other Railway Controller, who was to take over the Controller from Oxford's position, offered everyone a tour of the sheds. When we got there, however, we found all the engines in a tizzy…":

"Jacob, my dear engine!" the Other Railway Controller said. "What's gotten into you all?"

"It's the Controller from Oxford!" Jacob cried. "He's committing his final atrocity as Controller! He's scrapping Melody!" The Other Controller paled, and immediately rushed out of the sheds, just in time to see 'Arry and Bert drag Melody around the bend, and towards the ironworks in Vicarstown where the two diesels scrap many an engine...

"How tragic," Kaede muttered. "Melody finally got her freedom, and yet she saw it taken away at the last moment."

"It is," Luke finished. "But Melody did get her final wish. She was a really useful engine, right up to the end of her performance." And nobody in the sheds that night could disagree with that.

_**A Diesel's Last Hope**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Silence fell over the sheds, hardly anyone said a single word. That was until the Man in the Suit broke the silence, "the Controller from Oxford didn't get away with what he did, he was punished severaly by the railway board and was told that he'll never get a job on the railroad."

"Glad to know he got what he deserved," said Sia, then she looked back to the diesel shunter, "was it harder for you and the other diesel shunters to work in the yards?"

"Yes it was hard," sighed Luke unhappily, "Jacob, Marcus, Lucas and I did our very best, but our little old engines just couldn't keep up with the heavy demends requested..."

"Excuse me Luke," Asa spoke up, "but were your three brothers spared from scarp?"

Once again, silence fell over the sheds as everyone waited to hear Luke's answer. "No," Luke answered sadly, "none of them were spared, they too were sent off to scrap."

"How terrible," Kaede and Laura said quietly in unison.

"Shortly after Melody was sent off for scrap, Jacob's engine broke down and he was sent off for scrap because he was 'unrepairable', according to the workman. Lucas' brakes failed on him and he crashed into a warehouse, the damage was bad so he was scrapped too, leaving only Marcus and I in the yards..."

"...and now there's only two of us in the yards," Marcus groaned, "it's the end of the line for us Luke. The Fat Controller will never buy us and nobody will preserve us either."

"Stop talking like that!" snapped Luke, "it's not the end of the line for us, as long as we keep on rolling, then we will be spared from scrap."

"Open your eyes Luke! Many of the older diesels, including the '08 class shunters are being replaced by modern diesel engines, many of which are bigger and stronger than us. Let's face it, we're destined for the scrapyards and nowhere else. Maybe the Controller from Oxford was right, we're not useful anymore."

Marcus was quite stubborn and firmly believed that he and Luke would soon be on the scrap heap.

For many years though, he was proven wrong as the original Other Railway Controller kept them in operation on this part of the railway, shunting trucks and hauling goods trains when no other engines were available.

Every day, before work was to begin, the two diesel shunter's drivers checked over their engines. If all was good, then they would go off to work, if not - then they would stay in the shed for either a few minutes or an hour before heading out.

"It'll do no good, it'll do no good," grumbled Marcus, "we're ready for the scrapyards, we're ready for the scrapyards."

That's what he always said every single day and everytime he said that, he was proven wrong.

That was until one new year's eve when Marcus was sent over to Sodor to bring back some ballast trucks, which had been brought up by Donald and Douglas.

" 'ello Marcus, how are things in yonder yard?" Donald asked, "are ye keepin' yon trucks in order?"

"Yes we're keeping the trucks in order," grumbled Marcus, "but Luke and I are on the verge of breaking down..." then he said, "I'm actually scared you two, I'm worried of what will happen if I break down. Luke won't be able to keep the workloads up, can you two do me a small favour?"

"Whit would tha' be?" asked Douglas.

"Should I be sent away for scrap, ask your controller to buy Luke," poor Marcus was now starting to cry, "he doesn't deserve to be broken up. Promise me you two, please!"

The Scottish twins both promised Marcus, "we'll make asure that your brother is spared," said Donald, "dinna wurry about tha' Marcus."

"Ye can always trust us to keep oor wurd," added Douglas.

"Thank you," said Marcus, "you're both making this old diesel shunter very proud." Marcus was soon coupled up to the ballast trucks, then he rumbled away. The twins left a few minutes later.

Now normally Donald, Douglas or any of the Fat Controller's engines would take the train to the yards, but the Other Railway Controller made an agreement with the Fat Controller to allow his diesel shunters a chance to pick up the trains and take them back to the yards.

Marcus was now making his way across the bridge, as he rumbled along though, his old engine made a grinding noise and then a muffled explosion could be heard and the train came to a stop on the bridge. Marcus had broken down halfway across the bridge.

Luke was soon called upon to take Marcus back to the yards, "I'm sorry brother," Marcus groaned, "I gave it my best shot, I let you down."

"Don't you say that Marcus," said Luke, "you'll be okay once they repair you."

"No, I'm afraid that I'll be scrapped before the sun rises, I just know it. The workloads in the yards is going to be too much for you alone, so I asked Donald and Douglas to ask Sir Topham Hatt if he can buy you - at least you'll be safe on his railway...at least, you'll be a Really Useful Engine," Marcus shedded a tear before he said, "I hope that you can forgive me for my rude behaviour after all these years Luke, it has been an honor to work with you."

"Of course I forgive you Marcus," said Luke, "and it's been an honor to work alongside you all these years."

"Thank you," the diesel shunter said quietly as they finally reached the yards. Upon arriving, the Other Railway Controller ordered Luke to shunt Marcus into a siding while he took the trucks away.

"Good bye Luke - good luck in your new home!" called Marcus.

That was the last time Luke ever saw Marcus, for as the Diesel Shunter had said, he was scrapped.

"His engine was beyond the need of repair," said the Other Railway Controller to Luke later that day, "we had no choice, I'm sorry old boy."

Sometime after Marcus was scrapped, Douglas puffed into to the big station to speak with the Fat Controller, "sirr, do ye remember a diesel shunter named Luke?"

"Of course I remember Luke," said the Fat Controller, "he was Melody's brother. Why do you ask Douglas?"

"Well sirr, yon Marcus was asking us to ask ye if ye can buy Luke," and Douglas told the Fat Controller all Marcus said to him and Donald, "he was cryin' and beggin' sirr, he doesna want to see his brother scrapped and we dinna want to see th't either, so will ye buy him sirr?"

"I don't really need another diesel shunter around here though Douglas, Luke would have nothing to do."

"I understand sirr, but please spare him like ye did for me and Oliver all 'em years ago."

The Fat Controller was quiet for a minute, then he spoke up, "I've seen Luke in action and I know he's a loyal hard worker - I'll see what I can do, now run along please - you still have work to do."

"Yes sirr," said Douglas as he puffed off back to work.

The Fat Controller was sadly right, at the time, he didn't need anymore new engines for his railway, but was willing to try saving Luke from the scrapheap. Then he remembered, "I wonder if he'll want a new engine for his line," and so he picked up the phone and called someone from overseas - have you guess who it was. Yes you're quite right, it was the Man in the Suit.

"It turns out that I do need another engine for my railway," said the Man in the Suit, "we're doing well with Courtney and Li, but I really need an engine who can take the trucks with chained couplings. Which engine did you say is still in service on the Other Railway?"

"A Diesel Shunter named Luke," the Fat Controller answered.

"Luke?" exclaimed the Man in the Suit, "I've heard of that Diesel, he's quite a loyal hard worker..." he paused before saying, "give me a few days and I'll be there, I would like to see Luke for myself."

"Very well then, I'll see you in a few days."

When the Man in the Suit arrived, he and the Fat Controller rode on board Molly the Yellow Engine to the yards on the Other Railway. When they arrived, they found a scrap dealer talking with the Other Railway Controller.

"I can give you a decent amount for this rusty bucket of bolts," he said with a snarl in his voice, "let's face it, it's ready for scrap."

"No he's not!" boomed a voice, it was the Fat Controller, "Len, I can't believe you would try selling Luke for scrap."

"Oh but I had no intention on scrapping Luke, I would never do such a thing," said the Other Railway Controller, "I just saw this man looking at Luke, so I walked out here and he started handing out offers," he then turned to the scrap dealer, "I'm not selling Luke to you, now get going!"

"I will not, I was asked by the Railway board to scrap this thing."

"Too bad you won't be getting Luke," said the Man in the Suit, "because I'm buying this diesel shunter," he turned to the Other Railway Controller, "I would like to see Luke in action."

"Of course sir. Luke, show off what you can do."

"I'll try my best sir," said Luke.

Luke was taken off to the yards where he shunted several trucks into several trains bound for either Sodor or for the main line on the Other Railway. Then he shunted some trucks that were not needed onto several sidings out of the way. Then he did some runs threw the yards, light engine. When he was done, he was taken back to the sheds where the Man in the Suit and the Fat Controller had a look at his engine.

"It's in rough shape," said the Man in the Suit, "but I think once repaired, he will work like a new engine again."

"Molly can always take him to my works to have him restored," added the Fat Controller.

"Sell him to me," snarled the scrap dealer, "this thing is nothing but scrap!"

"I will not sell to you!" snapped the Other Railway Controller, "I will sell Luke to the Man in the Suit and his Little Tokyo Railroad."

"Thank you very much sir," said the Man in the Suit as he shook the Other Railway Controller's hand, "I know Luke will make a great addition to our fleet." Once the sale was made, Molly buffered up to Luke and towed him back to Sodor, while the Scrap dealer walked away in fury.

"...And the rest you all know," said Luke as he finished telling his story, "thanks to the Scottish twins, the Other Railway Controller, Sir Topham Hatt, the Man in the Suit and Marcus of course, I was spared from scrap."

"It's amazing," said Laura, "from what you said about Marcus before, he was one of the bad mannered engines and yet, instead of escaping to freedom, he saved you instead."

"In the long run of it all," said Li, "Marcus became one of the good brothers."

"Yes he did," agreed Luke and sighed quietly, "it's a shame though that he was scrapped," a small tear appeared in Luke's right eye, "I'll never forget him or the rest of my family back on the Other Railway, they'll always have a place in my heart."

"That's so sweet," said Nerine.

Then Laura asked, "are you happy to be a Little Tokyo Engine?"

Luke smiled and said, "of course I'm happy to be a Little Tokyo Engine," he answered, "to be here with such wonderful engines and amazing beings from three different worlds, it makes me feel like a member of the family."

"You know something Luke," said Courtney, "You _are_ a member of the family - our Little Tokyo Family." And everyone happily agreed to that.

Luke smiled and thought to himself, "Yep, this is a good life for me."

_**The End!**_


	20. Nerine and the Little Tokyo Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 20**_

_**Nerine and the Little Tokyo Engines**_

_**Based on the original "2009" volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Our friend Nerine was left in charge of the Little Tokyo Railroad while the Man in the Suit was away on vacation. During the time she was in charge of the line, two new arrivals came to Tokyo - one of which caused a little bit of trouble upon his arrival. Although there were some misadventures on the railroad, Nerine kept everything in control and made the Man in the Suit very proud when he returned. Anyways, here's what happened when Nerine became the temporary 'Tokyo Controller'._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-In Nerine's Hands

-Troublesome Shamus

-Trespassers

-Nerine Takes Charge

_**In Nerine's Hands**_

The Man in the Suit came into his office one cold October morning, only to hear his phone ringing, "Hello? Little Tokyo Manager speaking. Oh I see, Laura needs to go to the shops, faulty engine troubles is the problem. Very well then, see if you can get Laura down to the shops, I'll phone Ken's owner and tell him to send Ken if she breaks down."

He sighed unhappily as he placed his phone back on it's stand, "with Laura out of action, this will mean more work for the Other Little Tokyo Engines, it's a good thing though that I bought those two steamers last month."

He walked over to his desk and started to do some paper work, "oh Chikusho!" he groaned, "I forgot to give the engines their jobs."

He got up from his chair, grabbed his jacket and walked out to the sheds. Just in time to see Laura rumble off, light engine, "get better soon Laura!" called Courtney.

"I bet ya that her owners don't take very good care of her at all," said Li, but went silent as he saw the Man in the Suit come up to the sheds.

"Good morning my engines," he said with a yawn, "I must apologize for forgetting about you, it's just that I was thinking about my paperwork."

"It's alright sir," said Luke, then he noticed the dark lines under the Man in the Suit's eyes, "are you feeling okay sir?"

"Ah now that you mention it Luke, I'm feeling quite tired - but I'll be okay, we got to keep this railroad going you know. Now for your jobs. Courtney; you are to take a loaded goods train down to the warehouse district and bring back empties. Li; you are the shunt in the yards and Luke; you will take the empty coal trucks and oil tankers down to the district, you can take the other track there."

With all the jobs handed out to the engines and their crews, the Man in the Suit walked off slowly back to his yards.

"He says he's fine and yet he's not," said Li, "he looks like he hasn't slept in days."

"My crew and I have seen this before," Courtney said as she looked back to the Man in the Suit, "he sometimes pushes himself past his limits, there was that one time when he pushed himself too hard and he collapsed, do you remember that?" she asked her Driver.

"Of course I remember that, he collapsed on the station platform before we left with the passenger train."

"Then why doesn't he take some time off?" asked Li, "Whenever either my Driver or fireman are feeling tired, they take time off work to rest."

"If he can find anyone to take over, then I'm sure he will," said Courtney, "I just hope he doesn't faint before he can find someone to help."

Even the Man in the Suit was thinking the same thing, but he wasn't completely sure of who to ask to take charge of the line, "the last person who took over while I was away made a mess of the timetables," he thought to himself, "and poor Courtney had been locked in her shed just because he didn't like seeing her. Whoever takes over for me must have a good attitude and can do the best they can to keep to the timetable."

But he didn't have time to think of who can take over for him, he did have a lot of work to do. He spent most of the morning either doing paper work or giving out new orders to the Little Tokyo Engines.

By the end of the day, all the work had been done, but the Man in the Suit was more worn out than he did in the morning, but he had a smile on his face.

"Hello sir," said a familar voice, he turned to his left and noticed Nerine standing close by, "are you feeling okay?"

"Not really, I'm exhausted," he yawned, "I'm glad you came by though, I need to talk to you."

"What about sir?"

"Well do you remember what I said to you on the day we were running that special train?"

"Yes I remember," Nerine nodded.

"Well I'm granting you the chance now to be in charge of the railroad while I'm away."

Nerine gasped, "be in charge of the Little Tokyo Railway?" her eyes were wide open in surprise.

"That's right my dear Nerine," the Man in the Suit nodded, "I know it's a big responsibility, but I know you can do it. Remember you've been a big help to the railway serveral times already and you have a great bond with the engines too, you're perfect for the job."

"I don't know," Nerine said quietly, "I don't know if I can do it."

"Do what?" asked Courtney as she and her passenger train were coming into the station.

Nerine didn't answer, but the Man in the Suit did, "I'm asking our friend Nerine if she would like to be in charge of the Little Tokyo Railroad," he looked back over to Nerine, "are you worried about school?"

"Yes...and," Nerine said quietly, "I don't know if I'll do a good job as the temporary controller."

"Well of course you'll do great Rina," Courtney said with a smile on her face.

"I'm not asking you to decide here and now," said the Man in the Suit, "think about it tonight and come back here tomorrow with your answer before you go to school."

"Thank you sir." Nerine turned on her heel and walked away from the station.

"I'm sure she would make a great controller," said Courtney.

"So do I," agreed the Man in the Suit, "that's why I asked her."

Later in the sheds, Courtney told Luke and Li about the offer, "I hope she does take the offer," said the japanese engine, "otherwise the Man in the Suit will have to ask someone else and I have a strong feeling that person may be just as bad as the last relief controller," she shuddered just remembering.

At her house that evening, she was talking with Sia, Asa, Kaede, Rin and Drew about the offer made earlier, "it is a rather big responsibility Nerine," said Rin, "you'll have to make sure all the trains run to perfect time and you'll have to find a way to keep the engines in order."

"Way to be positive Rin," Asa said sarcatically and slapped him on the back, "I know Rina can do it."

"I think I speak for all of us here," said Drew, "when I say that we all believe in you Nerine, we know you can do it."

"Do you really mean it?" she asked.

"Of course," Drew nodded, "and if you want help, you can always ask any of us to give you a hand."

There was silence in the room for a few seconds before Nerine asked, "are you busy during the day?" Drew shook his head, "then do you mind looking over the railroad while I'm at school?"

"Of course I will," he answered, "it's like I said, you can always ask for help anytime."

"So what are you going to do Rina?" Sia asked.

"Come with me tomorrow and I'll tell you my answer..."

"Sir," Nerine said to the Man in the Suit the next day, "I have thought about your offer and...I would love to fill in while you are away."

The Man in the Suit smiled, he got up from his chair and walked over to the door, "please follow me then Nerine...your engines are waiting." And so Nerine and her friends followed the Man in the Suit. They found the three engines waiting there, "Engines, I would like to say 'good morning' to...the Tokyo Controller!"

"Good morning Ma'am," the engines said in chrous.

"Good morning engines," Nerine smiled.

"While I'm away for the next three weeks," the Man in the Suit spoke up, "Nerine is in charge, so I expect you engines to listen to her and to show her the same respect you would show me."

"Of course we will sir," said Courtney.

"Very good, now as long as you're all here, I have some important news - I've recently bought two more engines to help with the workloads and extensions to our line, they'll be arriving in a day or two."

"What are their names sir?" Li asked.

"One is an Australian engine named Big Mac and the second is a British steam engine named Shamus."

"Shamus," Drew muttered quietly, "now where have I heard that name before?"

"Now before I head out, I'll phone Ken's manager and tell him the same thing," the Man in the Suit continued, "also, I would like you all to give the new engines a great welcome when they come and remember to treat them with respect."

"Yes sir," said Li, "we promise you that we won't let you or our new Tokyo Controller down."

"Very good," the Man in the Suit turned to Nerine, "the railroad is in your hands now Nerine, I wish you good luck."

"Thank you sir, I won't let you down."

"I know you won't," the Man in the Suit smiled as he turned and walked off to his office to make the phone call to Ken's manager,

Nerine gave out the jobs for the day and then sent the engines off to work. She smiled as they left, "maybe I can do this," she thought happily to herself. As for Drew, he was thinking over the name 'Shamus'...but that will have to wait till the next story...

_**Troublesome Shamus**_

Work proceded as normal throughout the entrie morning. Since Nerine had to go to school, Drew was in charge until she arrived. Throughout that time, Drew kept on thinking about the name 'Shamus', "I know I've heard that name before," he thought to himself, "maybe he's in one of my railroading books, I'll take a look when I get home."

The engines did their best all day long, especially when Nerine, their 'temporary' Tokyo Controller arrived, "they've been doing quite well despite that Laura is away being repaired," Drew was saying to Nerine, "no trains have been late today, there have been no accidents and we got a phone call saying that the new engines will be arriving tomorrow. I thought you might want to tell the engines that tonight."

"I will," Nerine nodded. She walked off to the sheds and told the engines the news, "and now for the jobs...Li, you are to take supplies down to the new commuter line, Luke; you are to shunt trucks down by the dockyards," she added with a chuckle, "make sure Rick doesn't lose any of the crates."

"Yes ma'am," Luke chuckled.

"And Courtney; you are to collect a loaded goods train from the warehouse district and bring it to the docks."

"Right away ma'am," Courtney said happily. One by one, the engines went to work and Nerine went off back to her 'temporary' office.

The next morning at the crack of dawn, Nerine arrived at the dockyards to meet the new engines. "Here we go again," Rick grumbled, "this is going to make my chain ache."

Soon, Rick was lifting out the first engine, it had four front wheels and four driving wheels, it was painted in a light green paint, it had buffers and couplings in the front and back and it also had a very tall funnel. Rick lowered the engine to the ground with a little thud.

"Hello there," the first engine said, "can you tell me where the Man in the Suit is?"

"He's always on vacation right now," Nerine answered, "I'm in charge till he comes back, I'm Nerine, but mostly everyone calls me the Tokyo Controller."

"Well it's nice to meet you Nerine, I'm Big Mac."

Then there came a shout, "you have got to be kidding me, a little girl is in charge, this must be some kind of joke!"

The other engine that was being brought out was also painted in light green, he also four front wheels, four driving wheels and no back wheels.

He had a tall funnel and buffers like Big Mac, but unlike the Australian engine, the second engine had an angry look on his face, "I refuse to believe that this girl is in charge of the railroad we're to be working on, it can't be true."

"Alright Shamus," said his Driver, who had just come off the boat, "that's enough of that, behave yourself." Shamus only grunted.

His tender was brought down next, it had the words 'North Eastern' on both sides of it.

Big Mac sighed quietly and looked down to Nerine, "do you have any jobs for us to do?"

"As a matter of fact, I do have a job for you Big Mac. I need you to take the empty coal trucks and oil tankers down to the warehouse district. I advice you to first find Luke, he'll show you where to go."

"Right away ma'am," Big Mac said in a polite way and puffed off to find Luke.

"As for you Shamus, you can shunt the trucks in the yards, Courtney will show you what to do."

"Whatever," Shamus sniffed and puffed away, but before he was out of sight, very quietly he said, "loser!"

Nerine was shocked by such rude behaviour, but quickly thought, "he probably didn't get that much sleep on the ship. I'm sure once he gets some rest, he won't be so rude."

Meanwhile, far off from the Little Tokyo Railroad, Drew was looking threw his railroading books and soon found what he was looking for...

"There you are Shamus, now I remember you, you trouble maker."

Throughout the day, Big Mac proved just how useful he was, despite his age. Besides just getting along with everyone he met, Big Mac impressed them with how well he worked.

"He's one tough son of a gun that much is for sure," said Courtney's Driver, "not to mention very strong if he can take all those tankers and coal trucks alone."

Courtney and her fireman agreed with the Driver.

The same could not be said about Shamus, whenever one of them tried to say 'hello' or start a conversation with him, he would say rude things and snort angerily away. His rude behaviour was worst around the diesel engines, "motor oil traitors," he snarled angerily, "why don't you go back to where you came from?"

Laura felt hurt when she heard that. Luke was also collecting trucks from the district, he had heard the rude remarks and snapped back at Shamus, but the light green tender engine only snorted crossly and puffed away once coupled up to his train.

His Driver was more polite, so as they puffed out of the shops, he spoke to the diesels, "I'm sorry about Shamus," he said, "he's always like this, always has been. He means well...at least I think he does."

"Don't talk to the diesels, just drive me," snorted Shamus angerily, "why can't you learn to be quiet like your little pal?"

The Driver said nothing more. "Something tells me that with his poor attitude, Shamus is going to get himself into trouble," said Luke. Laura, silently agreed with him.

It wasn't long before Shamus started to pick up speed and started thundering down the line, "can you please slow down?" one of the trucks asked, "We don't like going this fast."

"Just shut up and do your job!" snapped Shamus and continued on.

As he puffed along, he often bounced about like a bucking bronco. His crew held onto anything they could just to keep them from falling over, "he was rough before and he's still being rough now," groaned the Driver, "I guess some things just don't change."

At level crossings, Shamus would blow his shrill loud and long, which caused motorists to shout, "you don't need to whistle that loud!"

"Oh but I do," Shamus sniffed, "it's the only way you'll hear an important engine like myself." And to prove his point further, he blew his shrill whistle even louder than before.

Then at another level crossing, Shamus shouted, "stay out of the way! An important engine like my good self is coming threw!"

This went on and on until they finally reached the yards.

"Alright, once we set the points to the correct siding, we'll take you back to the sheds," said his Driver, "then you can get some rest."

"Just hurry it up, I do not like being kept waiting!" Shamus snorted crossly.

The Driver applied the brakes, then jumped down to change the points. Sadly the Driver hadn't put the brakes on properly, Shamus knew this - as a result, he shook voilently in hopes to undo them.

"Knock it off Shamus!" his fireman snapped, finally breaking his vow of silence.

He ran over to the brake handle, but by then it was too late - it opened up and Shamus started to move, "now this is how to get the job done quickly!" he chuckled.

His Driver had just reached the first set of points when he saw his engine moving and gaining speed.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed, "I didn't set the brakes on properly!" He ran alongside for a short distance, hoping to get into the cab, but Shamus was going too fast, so he couldn't get in.

When Shamus had started off, the fireman had fallen back into the coal pile. He picked himself up and leapt to the reserver, hard over, full steam and whistle! "Come on Shamus stop!" cried the fireman.

Shamus' brakes came on with a scream and a groan, but he was still going much too fast - worst still, there was a whole line of vans directly ahead of him. Now Shamus was starting to worry, "STOP! STOP! STOP!" he shierked.

The fireman tried everything he could, but it was no use...

Shamus hit the back of the train with an earshattering crash! Splintered wood flew everywhere, metal aganist metal banged until Shamus _finally_ came to a stop.

"You stupid engine!" snapped his Driver once he caught up to the wreckage, "thanks to your recklessness, you've caused an accident and on your first day here too!"

"It's not my fault," Shamus protested, "it's yours for not putting the brakes on properly!"

"It _was_ your fault!" said a stern sounding voice. It was Nerine, she had seen everything from the nearby platform and was now walking up to the light green tender engine, "I saw everything you did, you shook your brake handle loose, that's what caused you to runaway and crash."

"Not for the first time I could add," said another voice, it was Drew with a railroad book in his hands, "when the Man in the Suit said he bought an engine named Shamus, I knew I had heard of that name before. So when I went home, I looked threw my railroading books and soon found him: Shamus the Bad Mannered Engine; throughout the days on his original railroad, he had caused five hundred accidents. Also as one of the eight engines that went to Sodor when Sir Topham Hatt's engines went off to England, he was involved in two incidents - one of which sent him into the water."

"Counting today's incident, you better make that five hundred and one," added Shamus' Driver.

Nerine sighed as she looked at the mess, "once Nora has cleared up the mess, I want you to go back to the shed and stay there until I can trust you to behave yourself!"

"And why should I?" Shamus asked with a snicker, "I don't usually listen to little girls."

"I wouldn't say that if I were you," Drew said catiously. Nerine stared at Shamus angerily, then she started to glow, "I suggest you do what she says, you do not want to see the princess of the realm of the demons mad - several boys have learned that lesson the hard way."

At first Shamus didn't believe Drew, but he soon grew nervous as sparks flew away from Nerine.

"Very well, I'll stay in the shed," Shamus sighed unhappily.

Nerine's light dived down, then she went off to the sheds to find an engine. She soon returned with Big Mac. By that time, Nora was already clearing away the wreckage of the broken trucks. When she was done there, Big Mac was coupled up to Shamus' tender, then the Australian engine towed him off to the sheds.

For the rest of the evening, Big Mac and Luke took Shamus' trains as well as their own. As for the light green tender engine - well, he remained quiet and still, for at least tonight anyways.

**Author's Note:**

Shamus' accident in the yards had been inspired by a real life event where a Long Island passenger train ran smack into the rear of a stalled freight train. The engine with the passenger train had smashed the freight cars to bits, nobody was seriously hurt during the accident. The incident happened on July 10th 1909 at Bay Shore, L.I.

_**Trespassers**_

The following next morning, Nerine arrived at the sheds to speak with the engines, "since Shamus is going to be locked up for a while," she said, "I will require all you to pitch in and help do his work as well as doing your own."

"Yes ma'am," said the four engines in chrous.

"We'll be more than glad to pitch in and help," said Li, "we won't let you down Nerine, unlike a certain engine I could mention." Shamus grunted in response to that.

"Very good," smiled Nerine, "now your jobs for today..."

"Hey you!" cried a voice. Everyone looked over to the station and saw a teenage boy, wearing the same school uniform Rin normally wears, running away with a plastic bag in his hands.

"Want to guess who that was?" Courtney asked.

"No doubt it's one of the fan-club members," said Luke.

"No doubt," agreed Li, "I just wonder which one that boy belongs to."

"Doesn't matter," huffed Courtney, "from our past experiences with them, we know they are troublemakers."

The stationmaster walked up, "I saw that boy walking over to the coach yard," he said, "he had two bags full of rocks. Just before he started throwing those rocks, I shouted at him and he took off like a jack-rabbit."

"It has to be Nerine's fan-club," said Li.

"How can be you be so sure?" asked Big Mac, "maybe they are part of the other fan-clubs."

"Doubtful," said Courtney, "as far as we know, only Rina's fan-club has ever caused trouble for the railroad, from throwing eggs at us to that major disaster piror to our five anniversary, they are the ones who like to cause trouble for us, we've never seen Kaede's or Sia's fan-clubs cause trouble for us."

"The only one those groups ever cause trouble for is Rin," said Li, "so remember to keep an eye for 'em troublemakers Big Mac."

"I will," he said, then he quiet down as Nerine gave out their jobs. Once they had their orders, the four engines set off for work while Nerine and the stationmaster went back to the station.

For his first job that day, Big Mac was to take some empty trucks down to the warehouse district, but since Shamus had been locked up in the sheds, Nerine asked Big Mac if he could take half of his train to the district too. Big Mac had agreed to it and Luke promised to follow along with the rest afterwords.

Before shunting his own train into place, Big Mac shunted Shamus' trucks to the dockyards.

"Oh great," sniffed Rick, "if it isn't one of those new powder puffs I lifted off that ship. That's all this railroad needs."

Big Mac had been told about Rick's bad behaviour, so he wasn't going to take any notice whatsoever. Once he was uncoupled from Shamus' trucks, Big Mac puffed off to shunt his trucks.

After five minutes, Big Mac returned to collect Shamus' trucks.

"About time you showed up," snorted Rick, "what's the big idea leaving these trucks behind?"

"I had to get my trucks," was all Big Mac said and puffed away once he was coupled up to the trucks.

The run to the district went well, Big Mac dropped off his trucks at the district and took back some empties. On his return journey, he was diverted into a siding to allow Luke to pass with the rest of Shamus' train. As he waited there, he spotted some boys walking on the nearby street, all three of them had snobby looks on their faces and they were wearing the same uniform the troublemaker from before was wearing.

"Hey lads, look what we got here," said one of them.

"I see it," snickered another, "that thing shouldn't be working on the railroad, it belongs in a scrap yard."

Just hearing this, Big Mac knew that these were the same troublesome boys the other engines were talking about this morning.

"I overheard one of those workers talking to this engine and you won't believe what they call it."

"What is they call it?" asked the third boy.

"They call it 'Big Mac'," snickered the first boy.

"Big Mac? Sounds like a hamburger name to me," chuckled the second boy. The three boys started laughing. They were still laughing when Luke passed by, that's when they ran away. Big Mac just ingored the rude comments, "sticks and stones may break my wheels, but words will never hurt me."

For the rest of the day, Big Mac never saw those three boys again, but he had a feeling that those boys would return, "and the next time they do," he thought to himself, "they might land in trouble."

And he was right.

At around three in the afternoon, Nerine came by to check up on the engines. She watched as Big Mac shunted some vans into line. That's when, out of the corner of her right eye that she saw something dash into the yards, "could it be those boys again?" she thought to herself.

She wasn't the only one who saw that object 'dash' by, Big Mac and his fireman had seen it too.

"I think we've got a trespasser in the yards," said Big Mac's fireman, "you might want to slow..."

He got no further, cause it was at that moment that they heard loud screaming coming from the row of vans. Upon hearing it, Big Mac's Driver applied the brakes as he could, but it did no good. The trucks Big Mac was shunting onto the train bashed into the other end of the train - this was followed by a loud scream of pain.

Big Mac's Driver and fireman jumped down from the cab and ran over to where the screaming was coming from.

"It is one of those boys," called Nerine, who got there before they did.

It was one of those boys from Nerine's fan-club, this was the same boy that sent Laura on the runaway trip. He and his little pals had been jumping in between trains for fun, that was until Big Mac came into the yards with his train. When the boy saw Big Mac coming into the same siding, he started to climb the ladder of the van, but he wasn't fast enough as everyone could see - his right foot was squished in between the buffers.

Big Mac's Driver ran back to reserve his engine while the fireman and Nerine helped him down.

"I think my foot is broken!" he cried.

"It serves you right for trespassing in our yards," said one of the vans.

"That's enough," said Nerine firmly, "let's get you to the hospital, then we'll deal with your little pals." So together, Nerine and Big Mac's fireman helped the boy into the cab, "don't try anything!" Nerine said firmly, she knew that _this_ was the boy responsible for the runaway.

Once the boy was inside the cab, Nerine ran off to the office to call for an ambulance to meet them at the crossroads near the wooden platform, then she phoned the police while Big Mac took the boy to the wooden platform. Both of them arrived within minutes. The injuried boy was taken away to the hospital while the police spoke to the two other boys after they had caught up with them.

"Why am I not surprised?" asked one of the officers, "I thought you three would've your lesson after the disasterious crash here at the station and when your pal caused that runaway. When will you three learn?"

"If you would stop causing trouble," said Nerine firmly, "then you won't get into these situations."

Neither one of the boys said a word, they just looked down to the floor of the Man in the Suit's office, looking very shamefaced indeed.

"I'm afraid you boys will have to come with us to the station," said the police cheif, "we'll phone your parents from there, I'm sure they'll want to have a little talk with you two and your little buddy."

The boys gulped, they not like the sound of that.

"Not again," groaned Li that night after Big Mac had told the engines of what happened, "well we all had a feeling that it was those guys again. They never learn do they?"

"Oh they will now," said a familar voice, it was Nerine, "their parents have had serious discussions with their boys and they promise they will keep them away from the railroad until such a time they can trust them to behave."

"And how's the boy who got injuried?" asked Big Mac.

"He's okay, according to what his father said over the phone, his son didn't break any of the bones in his right leg, but he won't be able to walk for a month or two, and like his friends, he won't be allowed near the railroad until he can trusted."

"At least now we won't have to worry about those boys jumping in between trains again," said Li.

"Indeed," agreed Courtney, then she noticed that Nerine was looking worried, "what's the matter Rina?"

"I'm just worried now of what the Man in the Suit will have to say to me once gets back. First Shamus has an accident and now this, I have a feeling he won't be pleased."

_**Nerine Takes Charge**_

The four engines didn't believe that the Man in the Suit would scold at Nerine for the incidents, after all, it wasn't her fault those incidents occured. Shamus on the other hand seemed to believe that Nerine would be scolded, "I knew she wasn't the perfect choice for the temporary controller," he sniffed, "she couldn't keep the accidents from occuring, I bet the real controller could do better than that silly girl."

"Shut up you baka!" snapped Courtney, "I will not allow you to insult one of my best friends like that. Rina is just as good as the Man in the Suit."

"True that," agreed Li, "besides it wasn't her fault those accidents occured. Those silly boys were trespassing in our yards, and as for you...you caused your own accident because of your recklessness and your impatience."

"And anyways, the Man in the Suit only scolds those who disobey the rules, like you did," added Courtney.

"We'll see who gets scolded, you wait and see," Shamus snickered.

Li whispered to Courtney, "are you sure Nerine won't be scolded? I mean, you were scolded when you fell off the tracks at the 'Water's Edge', remember?"

"Yes, but like I told you before," Courtney whispered back, "he thought I caused that accident on purpose until he found out the truth and apologized for scolding me. Like I said, he only scolds those who breaks the rules and Nerine has done no such thing."

For the next three weeks, everything ran like clockwork, there were no more mishaps in the yards and no trains were ever delayed.

Then on the day the Man in the Suit was to return, Nerine got a call from the warehouse district saying that although Laura needed more repairs than they thought, she was finally ready to go back to work.

"Would you like us to send her out with a goods train?" the manager on the other phone asked.

Nerine was about to say 'yes', but before she did, she came up with a great idea, "no, don't send her out with a goods train, I would like her to double head with Courtney on the passenger run today."

"Very well then," said the manager, "we'll have her ready to go by then."

"Thank you," smiled Nerine.

With that confirmed, Nerine went out to speak with Courtney.

At this time, Courtney was backing onto her seven coach passenger train. The platform was packed with passengers, "goodness me," gasped Courtney, "we'll probably need an extra coach to carry them all."

"By the looks of this crowd," said Courtney's fireman, "you'll need more than a few extra coaches."

"With extra coaches on your couplings," said the Driver, "that will mean you'll have a hard time keeping the train in motion."

"Not if you have a little help," said Nerine as she made her way threw the crowd, "I've arranged to have Laura join you on a double header run back to the yards on the return journey."

"Well that's all very good," said the fireman, "but what about the trip there? Courtney may be a strong engine, but not strong enough to pull this lot."

"Also arranged," said Nerine, "Li will couple on in front and help you to the district. He will return later with a loaded goods train."

"So what are we waiting for?" asked Courtney, "let's get those extra coaches." As she was taken away, she whispered to Nerine, "well done Rina, the Man in the Suit's sure to be proud of you."

By the time everything was ready, the train was already two minutes late, "never mind," said Li, "we'll make up for lost time once we're out on the line."

"Hopefully," groaned Courtney's Driver.

Even from where he was, the fireman could see that his friend wasn't feeling well, "I better keep an eye on him," he thought to himself.

Soon, the passengers were on board the train. The guard blew his whistle, the engines dug into the sand and they puffed slowly but surely out of the station. Once out on the line, the two engines picked up speed, going as fast as they could, in hopes to make up for lost time.

And they did, by the time they reached the warehouse district, they were now five minutes ahead of schedule.

"Nice work you two," Nerine said happily, "now Li, you can take on water and then take your goods train."

"Yes ma'am," said Li as his Driver uncoupled him and took him away to collect his goods train.

The passengers got off the train and were given a guided tour around the shops while Courtney and Laura were prepared for the return journey back to the yards.

"Hello Laura," called Courtney, "I see they've mended you well."

"Yes indeed," smiled Laura, "they did so good a job that now I feel like a new engine again. I'm more than ready to work again."

"Well you can start by helping me bring this passenger train home," chuckled Courtney. She looked out one of the windows to see dark clouds gathering, "and by the looks of those clouds and the extra coaches on the train, I'm going to need the help I can get."

Inside Courtney's cab, her Driver was panting heavily, "are you sure you're okay?" asked the fireman.

"Yeah...I'm just...feeling a little...under the weather," he answered weakily, "don't worry...about me though...I can still...drive Courtney home."

"Well I hope you can, otherwise Laura is going to have to haul the train and Courtney home on her own. Just take it easy okay?"

"Sure, but...I like I said...I'm fine."

Somehow the fireman had his doubts.

Soon all was ready for the return journey, Laura was coupled up to the coaches and Courtney was coupled up in front of her. The passengers were now getting on board the coaches, except for Nerine, she was going to ride along in Courtney's cab.

The guard's whistle blew, "care to blow the whistle Nerine?" asked the fireman. Nerine nodded and pulled on the whistle chain several times. This was quickly followed by several honks from Laura's horn, then the long train started out of the shops.

As they emerged out of the warehouse, the first few drops of rain began to pour down.

By the time they were out on the main line, the rain was coming down hard, making it hard for Courtney and Laura to see and to keep good traction too. Their wheels slipped frantically on the rails with each wheel turn by wheel turn.

"Come on wheels, don't fail us now," groaned Courtney.

Suddenly, there came a loud bang from behind them and the whole train started slowing down. Courtney's Driver stopped the train and Nerine went to see what was wrong.

Less than a second later, there came a dull thud from inside Courtney's cab, "what's going on in there?" she asked.

"It's your Driver," called the fireman, "he's passed out! Most likely he's exhausted from all the work he's been doing, plus that cold of his didn't help at all."

Nerine soon returned with bad news, "Laura's blown a fuss back there, that's what the loud bang was."

"Oh geez," groaned the fireman. He sighed deeply, "I guess that means our old girl here will have to take the train alone."

"How can Courtney take the train without a Driver?" asked Nerine. The fireman looked down to Nerine and Courtney looked over to her, "Me? You want me to drive Courtney? I can't, I..." Nerine was finding it hard to speak, "I might make a mistake and cause a derailment. Maybe Shamus was right, I shouldn't be the temporary Controller."

"No Shamus is wrong, you are the perfect choice to be the 'Tokyo Controller', that's why the Man in the Suit asked you in the first place. You won't make a mistake Rina, you will do a great job, we believe in you."

Courtney's fireman and Laura's Driver were quick to agree with the Japanese engine. Nerine was quiet for a few seconds, which left everyone in suspense. Then at last she said, "if you believe I can do this, then I'll give it a try!"

"That's the spirit," smiled Courtney's fireman.

Before starting off again, Nerine and the fireman placed plenty of sand on the rails, which would Courtney's wheels to grip the rails firmly. "It won't be easy Courtney," Nerine said in a calm voice, "but I know you can do it."

"Thanks, ma'am," Courtney said with a smile on her face.

Nerine smiled back as she walked off to the cab. Before leaving, she asked Laura's Driver to keep the brakes off, then when all was ready, she blew the whistle and eased open Courtney's regultor. The big japanese engine's wheels spun on the rails at first, but after much struggling, Courtney and the long train started off once more.

"You're doing it Courtney!" cried Nerine and her fireman in unison, "well done!"

"Well done to you too Nerine," smiled Courtney.

Halfway through the journey, they stopped so that Courtney could catch her breath. As they waited, Li came up from behind with his goods train, "Stars and Stripes," he gasped, "what happened this time?"

Nerine walked up to speak with Li's crew, she explained everything that happened, "I'm just worried that we might be doing more harm to Courtney than good," Nerine added, "Li, can you couple up behind and help push?"

"Of course I will ma'am," smiled Li.

So while Li was being coupled up to the train, Nerine walked over to Courtney, "Li is going to help us with the train, that'll mean less strain on your couplings Courtney."

"Thank goodness," sighed Courtney, who was by now feeling rather puffed out.

When all was ready, Courtney whistled to Li, Li whistled back, then the long train set off once more for the yards.

By the time they arrived, the trains were already ten minutes late, the passengers didn't mind though, they were pleased with how well Nerine had handled the situation. Nerine smiled, but her smile didn't last for long as she saw the Man in the Suit waiting on the platform and walking over towards Courtney's cab.

"Uh Oh, I'm in trouble now," groaned Nerine.

The Man in the Suit had heard what Nerine said, "and why may I ask would you be in trouble for?" he asked.

"Well sir, I was suppose to keep the railroad in order, but I...I didn't. Your new engine Shamus had an accident, a boy got hurt in the shunting yards and now two trains are late. I wouldn't be surprised if you scolded me for not doing my job properly." Nerine braced herself for the scolding she thought she was going to get.

"Nerine, you are not to blame for those incidents," the Man in the Suit said kindly, "from what I was told by Drew, Shamus was the one who caused his own accident, same with the boys. As for these two trains running late, it happens from time to time, the important thing is that you got them here anyways."

The Man in the Suit paused before continuing, "from what I was told, you did a terrific job Nerine. I'm very proud of you. Maybe next time I go away on vacation, I should ask you to be the 'Tokyo Controller' again."

"Do you really mean it sir?" asked Nerine.

"Yes indeed Nerine. I know the railroad will always be in good hands with you."

"Thank you very much sir," Nerine said happily. Both Li and Courtney cheered for their friend and so did everyone else, "three cheers for the Tokyo Controller," they all said, "we would be stuck out on the main line had it not been for her!"

"Well done once again Rina," smiled Courtney.

Of course, the Man in the Suit did have his serious talk with Shamus, his words to the tender engines were not kind at all. As punishment, he was to shunt for two weeks, "it's better than to have Nerine teach you a lesson," he said to Shamus. The green tender engine gulps everytime he hears that. As for Laura, her fuse was soon fixed and was soon back at work again. And from that point onwards, the Man in the Suit promised that if he was away for a while, Nerine could watch over the engines and be in charge of the line as the 'Tokyo Controller'.

_**The End!**_


	21. Amusement Park Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 21**_

_**Amusement Park Engines**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Do you remember Kayio, Karen, Michelle and Gary, the four small engines of the Amusement Park Railway? Well, these little engines have been kept extra busy most recently with an autumn festival coming to their park. Of course not everything went according to plan because of a few incidents that came up and with fears that one of the Amusement Park Engines would be retired from service. I'm happy to say that all turned out...but don't take my word for it, just see for yourself._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Karen Boils Over

-Cylinder Troubles

-Karen's Retiring?

-Super Karen

_**Karen Boils Over**_

It was a slightly chilly autumn's morning, but the little engines of the Park Railway didn't know that because they were sleeping in their sheds. Unlike the summer months, the park is only open on the weekends, so that gives the little engines a chance to have to rest - all except for Gary the Small diesel, who usually took the supply train around the park almost every day.

Karen was dozing happily and dreaming about pulling the park's grandest passenger train, when she was suddenly woken up by a strong gust of wind, "what the?" she asked in surprise. She looked over to the door and found her Driver coming in, "please don't tell me it's the weekend already," she groaned.

"No it's not the weekend yet," chuckled her Driver, "we're to take the supply train today."

Karen's eyes popped wide open in surprise, "the supply train?" she exclaimed, "but that's Gary's job!"

"Not today, the Park Controller is giving Gary the day off and giving you a chance to get out and strecth your wheels."

"You mean - go out into the cold and take the silly supply train instead of resting in my nice warm shed. Forget it," she snapped crossly, "I refuse to go!"

"Oh you'll go alright," her Driver said firmly, "or the Park Controller will leave you in the sheds until the spring!"

"Very well," sighed Karen, "I'll take the train, but I'm not going to be happy about it!"

So once her fire had been lit, Karen was brought out of the sheds and taken to the front gate. She grumbled all the way, "first I'm kept busy on the weekend taking children on rides around the park and now I have to take the supply train - I think the Park Controller is pushing me to the breaking point, it's not fair!"

"Boy, someone's gotten up on the wrong side of the shed today," her Driver thought to himself.

Soon, Karen reached the front gates where the trucks were waiting for her. All the trucks were loaded up with boxes full of supplies for all the game booths and equipment needed to keep the roller coaster rides in perfect order. Normally when Gary takes the train, he always backs down onto it very carefully, but today Karen was in a sour mood - as a result, she biffed the trucks hard.

"Hey, hey!" exclaimed her Driver, "be careful Karen, there are some fragile stuff on this train!"

"Don't care," grumbled Karen. After being coupled up to the train, Karen started with a rude jerk, "the sooner I get this work done, the better!"

Like the passenger trains, the supply train usually stops at every section of the park so that supplies and equipment can be taken off. Unlike the passenger trains though, the supply train has to wait until the certain items required for that one section of the park were taken off and then the empty boxes were put back into the train, ready for their trip to the recycling centre.

Gary doesn't usually mind the wait, but Karen did. She grumbled dreadfully after arriving at her first stop, "hurry up! Hurry up!" she grumbled.

"Just be patient," said of the booth operators, "we're almost done here!"

"Don't mind Karen," said her Driver kindly, "she's just upset about taking the supply train."

"Oh big surprise," said another booth operator sarcastically, "your engine is always upset about something. First was taking children around the park, then having too many trucks behind her and now the Supply train, isn't there anything your engine won't complain about?"

Karen heard and snarled under her breath, "let's go...NOW!" she barked angerily.

"If we leave now, then we'll have to come back later to collect the boxes, and that will mean you won't be going back to the sheds - just yet."

"Oh fine!" Karen huffed, "I'll wait." And that's what the miniature japanese engine did, but as she waited, she got crosser and crosser. At last, the empty boxes were loaded into the trucks, "finally, we're out of here!" Karen started with a rude jerk once again.

"Be careful you silly engine!" cried one of the trucks behind her, "we're not bumper cars!"

"Oh shut it you!" snapped Karen crossly.

At the next stop, Karen tried to pull away once the supplies had been taken out of the trucks, but her Driver stopped her before she could get away, "nice try Karen," he said firmly, "but I've got my eye on you, I'm going to make sure you do the job you were given."

"Oh Chikusho!" she growled crossly.

She tried again at the next stop, but her Driver stopped her again. This went on and on throughout the run around the park. At a water tower, her Driver spoke to her severaly, "okay Karen, I know you don't like these kinds of jobs, but when the Park Controller gives you a job, you are suppose to do what you're told to do. So throughout the rest of this run, please behave yourself."

Karen did not want to be yelled at by the Park Controller again, so she did behave herself throughout the rest of the run, but she did grumble under her breath - her Driver heard nothing. Soon Karen was reaching the front gate with her train, "once we're done here Karen," her Driver said kindly, "I'll take you back to the shed and give you a nice wash-over."

Karen didn't answer, mostly cause she didn't hear her driver as she was still grumbling under her breath.

"Next time, I hope the Park Controller picks Kayio or Michelle to do the job if Gary can't do it," she grumbled, "I do not want to get this job again. Oh well, on the positive side, nobody has seen me with this silly train."

Soon, she arrived at the gates where the men and the Park Controller were waiting for the boxes, "alright Karen, nice and easy now, back up slowly!" called the Park Controller.

She would've done the job perfectly, had it not been for one certain rude tractor.

"Oh look," Darren snickered, "it's the little firecracker with her supply train. What's the matter princess? You don't like pulling passengers anymore, you should leave the job to a real machine like me."

"Firecracker am I?" snapped Karen crossly, "you're one to talk, whenever your engine stalls, you're the one who looks like a firecracker! Now shut up!" She was so cross that she wasn't paying attention to her work. As a result, she lurged backwards in a frantic hurry, her Driver tried to stop her, but by then it was too late!

"Watch out for the bumper post!" cried a worker.

The last truck of Karen's train hit the bumper post with a loud bang! The train stopped, several trucks derailed and so did Karen, she toppled onto her side with another loud bang while steam escaped in all directions! When the steam had finally dived down, everyone looked to find the entire train derailed, a few trucks at the tail end were nearly in pieces while the other trucks were derailed.

"Whoops," said Karen meekily, "I didn't mean to do that."

Her Driver, who had jumped out before the crash, ran over to check on his engine. When he was done there, he started scolding her.

"Why are you scolding your engine?" asked the Park Controller.

"It's simple sir, she did all this on purpose," and he told the Park Controller of Karen's complaining and about her trying to escape from her work and doing it properly.

"Once we get you back on the rails Karen," said the Park Controller firmly, "you will go straight to the shed, I will have a serious discussion with you later!"

Once Karen was set on firm rails again, she was taken back to the shed while Darren was asked to haul away the trucks. When she arrived, she found the three other engines outside of their shed and the Park Controller standing nearby, looking very serious.

"I was pleased with the work you have been doing on the weekends Karen, but I'm not pleased with your behavior today," he said crossly, "you were rushing and being reckless, because of that now, some of our trucks are out of service and what a time for that too, we've got an autumn festival coming up and we needed those trucks. I thought you would do well with that train, but it seems that I was wrong." Karen looked down to the rails ashamed, "look at me when I'm talking to you!" Karen looked up again, "for your reckless actions, you will stay in the shed during the festival."

"Yes sir," sighed Karen, she looked like she was going to cry.

"Excuse me sir," said Michelle, "but when is this Autumn festival suppose to start?"

The Park Controller turned to face the three other engines, "it starts on Friday evening at five and goes on until Sunday evening at eleven. Now I expect you three engines to do your best out there."

"We'll do our best sir," Kayio and Michelle said in unison, Gary responded back with a smile on his face.

"But sir," Kayio spoke up, "what about the Supply train? Who will take it on those days?"

The Park Controller thought about it, "hmm," he said quietly. The engines awaited his response, "you three will have to take in turns pulling the train while taking passengers," he said at last, "I know it'll mean more work for you three, but I know you can do it." As he turned to leave, he spoke to Karen, "while you're locked up in the shed, I want you to think on what you did today...I really hope you learn to behave yourself when it comes time to bring you out again." The Park Controller turned on his heel and walked sternly away, leaving Karen with a lot to think about.

_**Cylinder Troubles**_

On the following Friday afternoon, Kayio and Michelle's Drivers arrived to get their engines ready for the evening's trains while Gary was taking another supply train. Some workers were also present in the sheds, they were helping to repair the dents on Karen - the miniature japanese engine had been left alone in the sheds following her accident at the enterance gates.

"Thanks for giving us more work," the workers groaned, "you're lucky you weren't taking passengers."

"Leave her alone," Kayio said firmly, "it could happen to anyone." Following the accident, Karen hasn't said a single word, the only sound she ever makes is the occassion sobbing late at night in the sheds, but won't say a single word as to why she was crying.

"It could happen to any one if they weren't doing it on purpose," said another worker, "but for an engine like Karen, it always happens to her because she's rash, cocky and dangerous," he turned to Karen, "smarten up or you'll become a static display at the park...which doesn't sound like a bad idea when you think about it."

"That's quite enough of that!" snapped Michelle, "we will not hear such tounge in this shed."

"Oh come on, can't you lot take a joke?"

"We can take jokes," said Kayio, "but only when they are funny, that so called 'joke' you just told was _not_ funny."

"Whatever," huffed the young worker, "now if you'll excuse me, I got work to do."

And so, he went to work on Karen's damaged left side while Kayio was taken out to collect the first set of visitors. After coupling up, she took the coaches to the front gate. Along the way, she saw Darren doing some of his jobs and taking some of the supplies, "hey, where's the flaming kettle?" he chuckled, "I haven't seen her since her accident at the gates."

Kayio didn't answer, she just ignored Darren and puffed away.

She soon reached the gates and slowly reserved her train into the siding. Her Driver looked back at the crowd, "if more people come in, you and the others will have your work cut out for you tonight," then he smiled, "hey Kayio, some friends of yours are coming up to say hello to you."

"Oh really? Who would that be?"

"Why not look this way?" asked a familar voice.

Kayio looked up to see who the owner of the voice was - it was Asa Shigure, and she wasn't alone, she was with Kaede, Rin and Primula, who was wearing the same kind of school uniform Kaede and Asa were wearing.

"Well hello my friends," Kayio smiled, "I haven't seen you since you last visited in August, how have you been?"

"We've been doing okay," Kaede answered happily, "Rimu's joining us in school now and our friend Rina was the Little Tokyo's Controller for a while."

"Really?" Kayio's Driver exclaimed, Kaede nodded her head.

"So how's life on the Amusement Park Railway?" Rin asked.

"We've been doing quite well," she paused and looked down to the rails. Asa looked too and found a broken piece of metal sitting just in front of Kayio, "Karen had an accident earlier this week and ever since then, she's been unusually quiet...except from the quiet sobs we hear every night."

"Maybe she feels bad for causing that accident," said Primula.

"Perhaps," said Kayio's Driver, "and of course Darren and a young worker aren't helping matters at all with insulting her..." he looked back to the coaches, "if you want to ride with us, you might want to get on board quickly, the seats are filling up fast!"

The three girls and Rin didn't need telling twice, they hurried off to the coaches just in time as there were only five seats left.

Kayio's Driver looked back to the crowd, there were even more people coming into the park, "whew," he gasped, "with this many people coming in, Michelle and Gary will need extra coaches on their trains."

Of course Kayio already had two extra coaches on her train, so when it came time to go - she struggled a little bit as she tried to start. Her wheels slipped on the rails a bit until she was able to grip the rails and start off. "Hmm, I think our line needs a fifth engine to help with such events like this," said the Driver.

All went well as they reached the first stop, but as they were leaving, a woman shouted, "stop! Stop!" she cried.

The Driver applied the brakes and looked back, "what's the matter ma'am?" he asked.

"My kid got off at the wrong stop!" she cried, "you nearly left him behind!"

"Then it's a good thing we stopped," said Kayio. Soon the little boy was back on board the train, which meant now that Kayio could finally go, with a little bit of trouble starting again.

Back at the sheds, Karen was sitting alone in the darkness. The workers had done their part to repair her as good as new, but that one young worker left a dent on her left hand smoke deflector as a reminder of the accident. Although the images she saw of herself falling on her side was more than enough of a reminder.

As she sat alone in the darkness in the shed, she thought she could hear the teasing words of Darren and the young worker..."_Oh look, it's the little firecracker with her supply train. What's the matter princess? You don't like pulling passengers anymore, you should leave the job to a real machine like me_."

"_Smarten up or you'll become a static display at the park...which doesn't sound like a bad idea when you think about it._"

"Maybe they're right, I don't like most of the jobs I'm given," Karen said quietly to herself as she finally broke her vow of silence, "I lose my temper quite easily and I have caused two accidents since the park railway was opened. Maybe the best thing for me is to become a static display...and never puff on the rails again," she shedded a few tears from her eyes and broke down crying.

Karen wasn't the only who _broke down_. Just outside of the sheds, Kayio was puffing along on her way to the farm animals, "Hey Trent, why don't we blow a friendly whistle to Karen? That might help cheer her up."

"You got it Kayio," her Driver smiled, "one friendly whistle blast coming up."

But before the Driver could blow the whistle, "OWW!" cried Kayio. There was a bang as something imploded on the left hand cylinder. The entire train jerked and then stopped just outside the sheds.

"Everyone alright?" the Driver asked while looking back. All the passengers nodded, they were just shaken by the sudden stop. Kayio's Driver got out to see what happened, "oh good glory, I don't believe it!"

What happened was that the working core plug had come loose during the run and just as they had gotten to the shed area, it imploded and now, a silver barrel with a few pieces of twisted metal could be found on the ground beside Kayio. On Kayio herself, there was a small hole where her cylinder should've been.

"I've never known anything like this to happen before," said Kayio's Driver, "especially not to a miniature railway engine." Even Kaede, her friends and the other passengers could not believe the damage caused.

At the enterance, the Park Controller was welcoming the guests as they were boarding Gary's train when he heard his mobile phone ring. "Hello? What's that you say? Kayio's cylinder imploded? Oh my gosh," he exclaimed, "was anyone hurt? No? Good. We can't hold up the line forever, so I'll call Darren's owner and ask him to move you out of the way."

And that's what he did. Of course as you can guess, Darren teased Kayio about her breakdown, "silly little trains, this never happens to us tractors."

"That's enough Darren," said his owner, "let's just move Kayio and her train out of the way."

Before they could do anything, they had to remove alot of parts from her left hand side, except for her siderods. When the work was done, Darren moved Kayio into a siding, then he pulled the coaches around the park, "I'd work better with my cart instead of these silly coaches," Darren muttered as he chugged away.

Kayio stayed in the siding all day long, Michelle and Gary were far too busy to collect her.

It was past midnight by the time Gary had been sent to collect her. He took her back to the yards where the Park Controller was waiting for them, he gasped at the damage that was caused, "that's pretty bad," he said, "but it can be fixed, I'll have to send you off to the warehouse district to see if they can fix your left hand side."

"But sir, what about the passenger runs?" Kayio asked.

"Michelle and Gary will take care of the passenger runs," he said. He then turned to Karen, "and the supply trains will be pulled by you Karen. Behave yourself this time."

He turned and walked away.

"At least you've been given the chance to come out again," said Michelle kindly.

"Yeah," Karen muttered quietly, "And I'll be glad to help - before I ask the Park Controller..." she stopped talking.

"Ask the Park Controller to what?" Kayio asked.

A small tear appeared into Karen's left eye. It poured down and splashed on her front frame. She took in a deep breath and said, "I'm going to ask him to retire me."

**Author's Note:**

Kayio's imploding cylinder was based on the real life event on the Mid Hants Railway during their spring Gala 2009 event when their BR Class 5 #73096's cylinder imploded due to the work core plug coming loose during the run. The only way to move the engine afterwords was to remove every part off from the left hand side's wheels, except for the coupling rods.

_**Karen's Retiring?**_

"You're going to do what?" exclaimed Kayio and Michelle. Gary's eyes were wide open in surprise, he could not believe what he had just heard from Karen.

"It's true, I'm going to ask the Park Controller to retire me," Karen sighed unhappily, "it might save the Park Controller a lot of bother."

"But why?" Michelle asked.

"It's because I'm nothing but a burden to this railway. I'm always losing my temper and when I do, I usually end up causing trouble and derailments, as you know from my most recent ordeal at the gates and don't forget, I also complain about half the jobs I do. What use is an engine who refuses to do anything and causes nothing but trouble?" she paused, expecting to hear an answer from someone. "You're all right!" Karen said a minute later, "there's no use for an engine like me."

"Karen..."Kayio began.

"I'm better as a static display, not an operating steam locomotive. My mind is made up and there is nothing that will convince me otherwise," Karen lowered her eyes till she was looking down to the rails again, "I'll tell the Park Controller I'm ready for retirement on Sunday evening."

Early the next morning, Karen's Driver arrived early to get his little engine ready for work. The same young worker from the day before was there too, he was washing Michelle and getting her ready for work.

"I see you're taking little miss troublemaker out for a run today," he said to Karen's Driver, "if you ask me, the Park Controller should retire this sorry excuse for an engine and bring in a new one."

"There he goes again," groaned Michelle to Gary, "he's got quite a tounge doesn't he?"

Gary rolled his eyes as to tell Michelle that he too was groaning too. Karen's Driver simply ignored the man and took Karen out of the shed as soon as her fire had built to a good temperature.

Today, she buffered up to the trucks carefully and puffed off slower than ever.

"What's the matter with you girl?" her Driver asked, "there's no steam link anywhere, so why are you puffing slower than ever? Karen? Hey Karen...everything alright?"

Karen didn't answer her Driver, today she just didn't feel like talking at all.

After getting the supplies from the front gate, Karen puffed off to different locations in the park. Her Driver was getting concerned though, she wasn't up keeping up to speed and her steam pressure was often low.

"Karen, are you trying to avoid pulling the supply train again?" he asked sternly.

"No sir," she said for the first time that day, "I just...don't feel like myself today." Then she went quiet again.

They soon arrived at the first game booth section of the park. As the workmen were removing the supplies from the train, the Driver checked Karen all over to see if anything was wrong.

"Other than that dent on her smoke deflector, everything seems to be in order," he said after a while, "I just don't understand what's wrong with her today."

"At least she's doing the job she was given," said one of the workers as he loaded the last of the broken up boxes into the trucks, "we're all done here, you can go now."

As the Driver climbed back in, he noticed that Karen was short of steam again, "come on Karen, we can't keep the workers waiting."

"Sorry sir," she muttered and started off once she had build up enough steam.

However, Karen hadn't finished her work by the time the visitors arrived. She had to be shunted onto a siding while Michelle passed with a passenger train. On her train today were Sia, Nerine and Drew - they could see the unhappy look on Karen's face.

Then they heard the Driver say, "what is the problem Karen? You can't get up to speed, you're lacking in steam and yet there doesn't seem to be anything wrong."

"Hmm...maybe I should have a look at her," Drew whispered to the two princesses, "I'll get off at the next stop, you two can go on without me if you want."

"No that's okay Drew," said Nerine, "we'll get off with you, maybe we can help you."

"Six hands are better than two," said Sia.

"True," smiled Drew, "alright we'll get off at the next stop together."

After getting off Michelle's train, Drew and the two princesses walked over to see Karen. Drew started looking the miniature japanese steam engine over. "She seems fine to me," he sighed after a while, "everything seems to be in working order."

"That's what I said," said Karen's Driver, "but still...Karen isn't working properly. So what is wrong with my little engine?"

"I'm not an expert on steam engine operations," said Sia, "but I think the problem isn't with her parts, I think it's a mental problem."

"Quiet," hushed the Driver, "if Karen hears you say something like that, she'll..." to his surprise though, Karen didn't pull a vulgar face, she didn't even get cross - instead, she just sighed.

"What's the matter Karen?" Sia asked kindly.

Karen looked around a few times, then she finally spoke up, "I just feel useless. I cause more accidents than anyone here on the railroad and I sometimes refuse to do the jobs I'm given - so," she sighed heavily, "tomorrow night after everyone has gone home, I will ask the Park Controller to retire me."

"Retire you?" Her Driver, Nerine and Sia exclaimed in unison.

"About time too," sniggered a voice from around the corner. It was Darren pulling a trailer full of supplies, "you're too much of a burden in this amusement park. So take my advice and just go away!"

"No one was asking you!" snapped Sia.

Darren just laughed as he chugged away. All four looked down to Karen, who was looking down to the rails again. There was also a small tear coming down from Karen's right eye, she was crying.

"Let's just go," she sighed quietly to her Driver, "we got to get these supplies delivered don't we?"

"Yes we do," sighed her Driver, "let's get going." He climbed into the cab, thanked Drew and the two princesses for their help, then they puffed off back onto the line.

"Hmm," pondered the Driver, "maybe I should talk to the Park Controller about this later tonight."

He was going to get his chance to speak to the Park Controller because he came by to see Karen later that evening after the visitors went home, "well Karen," he said, "I am pleased that you got the work done today with no mishap, but you were being a little slow."

"I think slower is safer sir," she said quietly, not even looking up to the Park Controller.

"Yes slower is safer," he agreed, "but your speed today...ah well, too slow for the line. We can't keep our guests waiting. Try and go a little faster tomorrow okay?"

"Yes sir," she was so quiet that the Park Controller almost didn't hear her.

"Ah sir, I need to talk to you about something serious," said Karen's Driver. He looked down to his engine with concern.

"Very well, put out Karen's fire and lock up for the night. I'll meet you at the front gates," the Park Controller turned on his heel and walked away. The Driver carefully put out the fire, then after saying good night to his engine, he locked the doors and walked off to the front gate.

"Alright, so what's going on?" the Park Controller asked when the Driver appeared.

"Well sir, it's Karen. She's planning on asking you to retire her." The Park Controller stared at the Driver with a surprised look on his face, "she thinks not a useful engine to the railway anymore because of the way she is, plus hearing from others...ah, namely Darren and that young shed worker, say she should be taken out of service."

"I see, well that explains everything then," groaned the Park Controller, "Why she's not doing puffing up to speed, the depressed look and the silent treatment - I should've seen this. Don't worry, I'll talk with Karen tomorrow night. In the meantime, you better go home and get some rest, tomorrow is going to be our busiest day."

"Yes sir," nodded the Driver and walked away.

Back at the sheds, Karen was talking with Michelle. The Challenger engine was trying to talk her out of telling the Park Controller of her decision, "I told you last night Michelle," Karen said unhappily, "I'm going to ask him to retire me after tomorrow night - so tomorrow, I'll do my best to make you all proud, even if it is going to be my last day in service."

_**Super Karen**_

Bright and early the next morning, Karen's Driver arrived to get her ready for another run with the supply train. As he was getting her ready, Karen looked out to the yards, "I'll most likely be sent away after the Park Controller retires me," Karen thought to herself.

Darren chugged by with a snicker, "I'm really looking forward to tonight," he said rudely, "for one of you silly engines will removed this park forever!"

Michelle, who was already awake, shot Darren a firm look on her face, but the silly tractor continued laughing as he chugged away, blowing nasty black smoke from his engine.

"Alright old girl, let's get going," said Karen's Driver, "and remember what the Park Controller said yesterday."

"Yes sir," she answered quietly. With a wheesh of steam, Karen puffed slowly away from the sheds and off to the goods yard. "Well, even if I'm going to retire tonight, I'm going to do the best I can to not let the Park Railway down."

Even the trucks could see how upset Karen was, they felt sorry for the miniature Japanese engine, even though she had damaged some of their friends. "Poor Karen," the Driver thought to himself, "I wish there was something I could do to cheer her up, but I don't think she'll listen to me."

The young worker came in to give Michelle and Gary a good rub down, he smirked as he looked at Karen, "see you around museum piece!"

Karen didn't respond back to that. She had heard him, but payed no attention as she started away from the yards.

Later on that day, Michelle was taking a whole train full of happy visitors around the park, two of which were Kaede and Primula. As she puffed along though, she often felt short of puff.

"You must have a steam leak somewhere," groaned her Driver, "you still enough steam for this trip, so we should be okay. Although I don't know if we'll be able to take the next train," he sighed unhappily, "what a fine time to have a steam leak."

"I don't think we're the only ones having trouble," said Michelle as she looked further ahead.

Her Driver looked too and saw Darren parked beside the tracks - he was blowing nasty black smoke in an alarming way, "what's wrong with your tractor?" Michelle's Driver called out.

"Darren's old engine blew out again," groaned the operator, "I told him we should take it easy, but this silly tractor insisted we keep going."

"If only to show how much better we are," coughed Darren as more smoke bellowed out from his engine.

Michelle's Driver groaned, "of all the weekends for these mishaps to happen, it had to be this one."

Not long after Michelle had passed Gary, her Driver noticed that her steam pressure was really going down, "We'll have to make an emergency stop," he told Michelle, "hopefully we'll get more steam if we rest."

And so, Michelle was brought to a stop. The passengers were getting anxious, "why have we stopped?" asked a little girl.

"It's a steam leak somewhere," Primula answered, she had heard what the Driver said before, "they're just waiting for Michelle to get more steam."

It took a few minutes, but at last Michelle had a good head of steam and was able to continue on. The miniature Challenger did her best for a while, but soon she felt like she was losing more steam than before. Luckikly, they had to stop to let more passengers out. That helped, but after starting again, she felt worse than before, "come on! Come on!" panted Michelle. The train felt heavier with each wheel turn, "come on! Come on!"

"Just do the best you can Michelle, don't push yourself too..."

He got no further. There was a sudden jerk, the train stopped and Michelle was engulfed in a rush of steam.

"Oww!" groaned Michelle.

"What happened?" asked the same little girl from before.

"I think Michelle has broken down," Kaede answered.

She was right, Michelle had broken down, "well that's torn it," groaned the Driver, "we'll have to call for Gary to come collect us." He got out his mobile phone and called the Park Controller.

The Park Controller was at the front gates, helping some of the men and women load up Karen's supply train when he got the call. "What?" he exclaimed when he got the call, "are you serious? Michelle's broken down too! Oh I don't believe this..." he paused and looked down to Karen, "I'll send Karen, she's closer to where you are."

He walked up to the front of the train, "Leave those trucks please Karen, I have a different job for you. I need you to..."

"But sir," Karen interupted, "you said that I'm not allowing to take other trains other than the Supply train. Remember?"

"Yes I do remember, but you need to forget what I said before. Michelle has broken down and she and the passengers are stuck."

"I need you to collect them Karen and continue the run around the park," he continued, "otherwise the passengers are going to have a long walk to the front gates and I don't think they'll be happy about that."

"Very well sir, I'll go collect her right away."

Once she had been uncoupled from the trucks, Karen puffed off, light engine, to help Michelle.

"You're making a big mistake sir," said the young worker, "she'll most likely derail the train..."

The Park Controller shot the young man a stern look, "I've heard you've been saying rude things to my engine. Such behaviour like this is not suitable for a workplace. So lose the attitude or...you can start looking for another job. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y...Yes sir," the young worker said nervously.

"Good," The Park Controller looked back to Karen's direction. He smiled and whispered, "I know you can do it my little engine, you can do it."

It wasn't long before Karen was passing Darren, "I suppose you've come to gloat huh?" Darren snorted.

"No," Karen said firmly, "I'm going to help Michelle."

Soon she reached the train, the passengers started cheering when they saw her. "I don't know why they're cheering for me, I'm a disgrace to the railway."

A little boy at the back of the train watched as Karen was being buffered up, "what's your name?" he asked kindly.

"Karen."

The little boy smiled, "hey everyone, Super Karen is here to save the day!"

The cheering went up again, and even Michelle was cheering for Karen, "you can do it, Super Karen."

"You Can do it! You Can do it!" cried Kaede, Primula and other passengers cried in unison.

Karen was stunned at first, but then a smile appeared on her face, "if they all believe in me that much, then maybe I can do it. I'm not going to let them down!"

"Alright Karen," said her Driver, "are you ready to help?"

"I was made ready," she said cheerfully. With a cheerful blast of her whistle, Karen puffed and pushed on the whole train's weight. "Come on! I can do this! Come on! I can do this!" she panted to herself.

With all the passengers on board and a failed Challenger engine at the front, it was hard work for Karen.

"Go Super Karen!" cried the children on board, "you're the best! You can anything!" The other passengers, Michelle and her Driver cheered for her too. Karen responded with a will as the train picked up speed - not too fast, but a good enough speed for a passenger train, "Super Karen is a hero!" cried the little girl in the first coach.

"She sure is," Kaede nodded happily.

Soon, Karen had gotten the entire train to the next stop. The passengers didn't mind stopping here, mostly because it was one of the games section of the park. Before walking off to have fun, they thanked Karen and her Driver for coming to their rescue.

"Glad to have helped," smiled Karen, then she spoke to her Driver, "what do you say we go back and help that silly tractor?"

Her Driver nodded happily, "I'll phone the Park Controller on the way and see if he can stop Gary."

With that said, he threw Karen into reserve and took her back to where Darren was. Before she was out of sight though, she heard lots of 'thank yous' from more passengers and hearing "thanks bud," coming from Michelle.

Thanks to Karen's Driver, The Park Controller was able to stop Gary before he left with more passengers.

"Oh no," groaned Darren when he heard puffing sounds, "it can't be..." but it was, it was Karen. Backing down to where he was. She didn't say anything, but she did gave him a pitying look, "I like your sad look better," he said rudely, "now be off with you, I'm enjoying some rest."

"Sorry Darren, but we're going to help you back to your shed. Though it wouldn't be the first time you had to saved by an Amusement Park engine now is it?" she asked cheekily while raising an eyebrow.

Darren looked like he was going to blow a gasket.

Soon, long chains were attached in between Karen and Darren. Darren's operator said he was going to stay on board to help steer the tractor, "I can't believe this, saved by an engine again," he moaned.

Karen chuckled quietly as she took the strain. She puffed along slowly and carefully.

She soon had Darren back at his own shed, "and I was wondering how we were going to get him back here," said his owner, "thank you for helping Karen."

"No problem," she smiled. Then she heard her Driver's mobile phone ring. Her Driver answered it, "I wonder what's going on now."

After a minute, the Driver spoke to Karen, "change in plans Karen, after we take Michelle back to the sheds, we're to take the passenger trains for the rest of the day, how's that?"

"A chance to pull passenger trains again," she asked in surprise. Then with a happy tone in her voice, she said, "what are we waiting for? Let's get going!"

And on that happy note, Karen set off once again.

After getting Michelle back to the sheds, Karen helped Gary with the passenger runs and on a couple of trips, she took a few trucks from the supply train. On most of her runs, Karen would often be blinded by flashes from cameras. Children wanted pictures of this 'superhero engine' as they called her and others took her picture because they considered her to be an enterpising engine.

At the end of the day, Karen and Gary returned back to the sheds after taking the last of the visitors back to the gates, they were tired but happy. "How are you feeling Michelle?" Karen asked kindly.

"Pretty lousy, Driver says I blew a steam pipe earlier, but I should be okay once repaired," she answered, "I hear that you did a wonderful job taking the passengers, you were great today."

"Indeed she was," said another voice, it was the Park Controller, "Karen I am pleased with your work efforts today, you not only helped Michelle, but you helped Darren back to his shed and you helped Gary with the passenger trains and taking some of the supply trains with you. You should be proud of yourself."

He paused and then added with a serious look on his face, "I've been hearing that you wanted to retire from service from Karen? Care to tell me why?"

"Well sir...I'm a clumsy foolish engine, who causes nothing but trouble to this line. I'm only good as a static display."

The Park Controller got down on his knees until he was face to face with Karen, "that's not true my little engine, I only banish engines who never learn any sense and continue acting badly to others. You might have a bit of temper at times, but you do learn sense and you do come threw when we need you the most. To me, that doesn't sound like an engine who's ready for retirement - no, I think that sounds like an engine who'll be working on this line for a long time." Michelle, Gary and Karen's Driver agreed with the Park Controller.

"So you won't retire me sir."

"No I won't, you're far too useful to become a static display. I'm real proud of you...Super Karen," he said with a smile on his face. Karen looked up to the Park Controller and showed a big smile on her own, "and I think you're more than ready to pull passenger trains again."

He got up so that he could speak to the other engines, "you all did your best during the festival and I'm proud of you, which includes Kayio. It seems though that with more people coming to our park, we're going to need help. I have made several phone calls to the Sodor Steamworks and asked them to build us a brand new engine, this engine should hopefully help with the workloads."

This news was recieved with acclamation from the crews and the engines, with Karen being the loudest out of anyone there. She was cheering for two reasons, one was because she was going to stay on the railroad and second; because the Park Railway was going to get a new engine.

As the Park Controller walked away, he smiled at his engines, and then thought: "I wonder what Kayio will have to say when I tell her this."

**The End!**


	22. Little Tokyo Cranes

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 22**_

_**Little Tokyo Cranes**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Just the other day, I was talking with some of the Little Tokyo Engines and they were asking me if I could write up a book about the cranes of the Little Tokyo Railroad and at the Warehouse District. I asked them what I could write about, "well there's Rick's tipping over incident," Courtney said, "and Nora's background story," added Li, "And there's Nayuki and Masuko's stories too." Well with so many stories, I agreed to write up a book about those cranes. I hope you will enjoy these stories about the Little Tokyo Cranes._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Nora

-Tumblin' Rick

-Masuko Takes a Dip

-Nayuki Catches the Thieves

_**Nora**_

Have I ever told you the story of how Nora the Steam Crane came to work on the Little Tokyo Railroad? I haven't? Well then, I'll tell you right now.

This steam powered crane's story begins back on the Canadian Pacific railway, her main job was to rescue engines, coaches and trucks who have come off the rails. When she wasn't doing that though, she would help load up the vans with crates. Do you remember that vans in Canada and America are called Box cars and trucks are called freight cars? You do? Good, then we shall continue.

She was a loyal, hard and kind worker, just like she is today and she also got along quite well with all the engines and workers in the yards around Toronto Ontario Canada.

One day, she was parked outside the CPR roundhouse and talking with some old friends when a pair of diesel engines came into view. These new engines needed refuelling before returning to Vancouver with the CPR's most popular train 'The Canadian'. As they came to a stop, they snorted crossly at the sight before them.

"So these are the engines we're to replace," said the first diesel rudely, "these steamers are nothing but dirty old clap traps that are more than ready for the scrapyards."

"How dare you!" snapped No. 1202, one of the pacific engines on the railroad, "if I was in steam right now, I would puff over there and..." he was quickly hushed by Nora, who back then didn't have a name, just a number.

"Where did you hear such a story?" the crane asked.

"We heard from no one, it's just plain obvious to see," snarled the second diesel, "we diesels are to take over while you lot rot in the scrapyards. We are cleaner, stronger and far more reliable than you steaming scrap heaps ever were."

"Especially you steaming crane," said the first diesel rudely, "you'll be replaced with a diesel powered crane."

"Oh shut your traps already and get out of our shed!" snapped No. 1256, another pacific engine.

"Deny it all you want," snickered the second diesel, "but soon you'll learn that we are telling the truth - when you're all in the scrapyards being broken up." The two diesels laughed rudely until their tanks were full and ready to go.

"Silly engines," grumbled No. 1202, "what garbage they talk about. Us steamers going to the scrapyards because of them? Pah, I don't believe it!" Even so, the other engines and the crane were worried that the diesels might be right.

They had every right to worry, as the years passed, more and more diesels came to the railroad and the steamers were retired one by one. Some saw service again on different lines, some were preserved in museums or parks in both Canada and America, while sadly the others were sent off to the scrapyards.

As for the steam powered crane, she was displayed in a park for ten years before being bought up by a museum owner, who held annual steam shows every single year. At first she enjoyed working at the steam show, people would come by the dozens to see her and the other steam vehicles at the show, but she soon grew bored just sitting on a short piece of track.

On top of that, she was lonely throughout the rest of the year, with only occassional visits from her owner and some of the traction engines that came by to do some work.

"Ah well," she sighed to herself one day, "it's better than being scrapped."

Then one wet rainy day about ten years after she was bought, her owner came to see her, "this will be your last steam fair old girl," he said, "you're just too expensive to keep, I'm selling you to the city park after the show."

"Oh no, not again," she groaned.

It was true. After the steam show was done, the owner sold her to the city park where she remained for almost twenty two years. Over the years, her once proud black paintwork started to vanish and rust appeared in it's place. Vandals often came by and painted graffiti all over her, she would scream, "hey stop that!" but they payed no attention.

She thought that she would never, ever run on rails again or show off just how useful she could be.

That was until one day in 2002, when a man, along with his family were walking past the park when they spotted her. This man had black hair and wore a fancy dark blue suit. Have you guessed who the man is? Yes you're quite right, it is indeed the Man in the Suit. He and his family were on vacation in Canada for a couple of weeks and today was their last day before returning to their home in Tokyo.

Haruka, the youngest daughter of the family, looked over to the park and saw the crane sitting on it's small piece of track, "daddy," she tugged on the sleve on his jacket to get his attention, "Daddy!"

"Yes Haruka, what is it sweetie?" he asked. Haruka pointed over to the crane.

"That train!" she said, "Can we go over and see it?"

"Of course we can," her father nodded. And so, they and the rest of their family walked up to the steam powered crane. "It's a steam powered crane, they used these types of cranes all the time back in the days of steam."

"Yes..." sighed the crane unhappily, "back in the days of steam, before I was retired."

"How long ago was that?" young Haruka asked.

"I don't know, it feels like forever since I last run on the rails or do any work," a small tear appeared in her eye, "I long to work on a railroad again, but I don't know if that's going to happen - I think I'm going to be a static display forever."

Haruka felt sorry for the poor old steam crane, "daddy, please buy this crane, she shouldn't be here all alone."

The crane looked down to the little girl, "I don't think your daddy would have the money to buy an old crane like me," she said kindly.

"Actually I do have the money to buy you," said the Man in the Suit, "I can buy you and have you restored back to your former glory once more."

The crane was surprised, but then a frown appeared on her face, "am I going to be placed on a short piece of track at a steam show?" she asked.

"Not at all, you will be running on a real railroad," he answered. The crane looked at the Man in the Suit in surprise, "you see dear crane, I am the controller of a railroad that's being built right now and we could sure use a crane like you to help complete the work and help in case any of our engines ever come off the tracks."

"So you'll buy her daddy?" Haruka asked.

"I'll see what I can do," he said, "if all goes well, this crane will be coming home with us."

Luck was on the Man in the Suit's side as he was able to buy the steam powered crane from the city. He and his family returned to the park an hour later, "well dear crane, I have just bought you and you will be coming with us to Tokyo."

"Oh how wonderful," the crane smiled, "I've waited for years for another chance and now..." tears were pouring down from her eyes, "now I'm going to be given that second chance."

"Yes indeed," smiled the Man in the Suit, then he asked, "do you have a name?"

"No sir, I don't have a name."

"Daddy," Haruka spoke up, "can I name this crane?"

Her father nodded happily, "of course you can sweetie, what would you like to call our new friend here?"

Haruka smiled and walked up to the fence in front of the crane, "I would like to call her 'Nora', would you like that?" she asked the crane.

"Yes," she smiled, "I would like that very much."

"Then it's settled," smiled the Man in the Suit, "from this point onwards, you will be known as Nora the Steam Powered Crane." And for the first time in years, 'Nora' smiled the biggest smile she had shown in a long time. Finally, her chance to be a useful crane had come!

An hour later, a flatbed lorry arrived. Using a very strong cable, the lorry lifted Nora onto the flatbed, then after being tied down properly, she was taken to the docks and placed on the ship bound for Tokyo.

After the long boat trip, Nora was lifted out by Rick, who had just been put up, then was taken off to the nearest road who took her off to the district to be restored. The workers there did a fantastic job and in a matter of weeks, Nora was finally in operation. Following her release from the shops, Nora helped the workmen to lay down the tracks and get the line ready for the grand opening.

Thanks to her, the line was finished earlier than they had orginally planned.

"If it hadn't been for Nora," said one of the workers, "it would've taken us years to complete this line."

"Well done Nora," smiled the Man in the Suit, "I'm quite pleased with you. I'm glad we bought you for the railroad."

"I'm glad too sir," she smiled, "it's better than being a static display or an attraction that gets used once a year. I'm glad to have be given a second chance." I'm think we're all glad that Nora was given her second chance, am I right?

_**Tumblin' Rick**_

Before coming to the Little Tokyo Railway, Rick was used as a construction crane in Canada. It was a nice job, apart from the strong language he often heard. Rick always believed that he would be a construction crane, that was until his owner sold him off to be destoryed just because he was an older crane and not as fast as the modern day cranes.

As luck would have it, on another trip to Canada with his family several months before, the Man in the Suit came across Rick waiting to be scrapped - he saw potential in the old crane and so he bought him and had him brought to Tokyo to be a dockside crane.

Despite having been saved, he still grumbles and complains about the work he does and who he works with.

One afternoon, Li was backing some empty vans into a siding near to where Rick the Crane stood. After the trucks were placed into their proper sidings, his fireman got down to uncouple the trucks.

"Looks like we're going to get a fierce thunderstorm tonight," he called back to the Driver, "probably in the next hour or so."

Li looked up and saw that his fireman was right, there were dark clouds rolling in, "you better batten down the hatches up there Rick," he called cheekily, "we don't want you to be blown over during this storm."

"Oh shut up you little powder puff," snapped Rick, "for your information, I've been threw tonnes of storms and not once have I ever been knocked down."

"There's always a first time Rick," Li chuckled quietly.

Once uncoupled from the trucks, Li puffed off to take one more train to the district before returning to his shed for a good night's rest. Rick grumbled crossly and went back to work, "there's always a first time Rick," the crane mimicked quietly under his breath, "pah! Like I would ever tip over."

Li's journey to the warehouse district was a smooth one, but by the time he was ready to return to the yards, it was already starting to rain. Along the way, Li spotted Sia walking along with several bags of grogeries - as always, she was smiling, "I just love the rain," she said happily, "I think it's very beautiful."

"At least you do," Li puffed quietly, "I don't. This kinda weather is only suitable for ducks...or that silly Rick," he added with a chuckle.

By the time Li reached the yards, the rain was really coming down hard - it was nearly impossible to shunt the trucks.

A workman stood out in the pouring rain with a lamp to help Li's crew guide their engine and the train into the siding.

"Thanks for your help!" the Driver called to the workmen after the train had been shunted, "now why don't you go home before you catch a serious cold!"

"Oh I love to," groaned the workmen, "but I have to wait till Shamus arrives with his goods train. I have to direct him into one of the sidings at the dockyards, we don't want a repeat performance of what happened at the Water's Edge right?"

"No I guess not," said the fireman, "but you're seriously going to get sick if you stay out here. Why don't you wait in the cab with us? At least you'll be dry and stay warm too."

"I would like that, as long as it's okay with Li."

"It's okay with me," said Li, "I used to do this alot on the Pennsylvania railroad whenever there wasn't a shed. Plus if it keeps you from getting sick, then I don't mind standing out in the rain."

"Thanks Li," smiled the workman as he walked over to the big tank engine. He climbed into the cab, then the Driver took Li back down to the dockyards.

As they pulled up, Li looked up to the still grumby Rick, "hello Rick, are you enjoying the weather up there?" Li called cheekily.

Rick made no reply, mostly because he hadn't heard Li due to the heavy rain beating down on him and the rumbling thunder. As they waited, they heard a loud cracking sound, but thought it might be thunder in the distance.

Li, his crew and the workman waited for another few minutes until at last they could hear Shamus' whistle call. The workman was starting to climb down from Li's cab when suddenly...

"Rick's going down!" he cried.

Li's Driver and fireman looked and saw to their horror - Rick was tumbling down, "what the..." Rick began, but never finished because he had hit the ground with a dull thud, just missing Shamus as he was braked to a stop.

"Stars and Stripes, how did that happen?" gasped Li.

"You got me," said the Driver, scratching his head, "I know you and Rick were only joking about tipping over, but I never really thought he would actually come down like that."

Less than a minute later, Shamus arrived on another line and he wasn't alone. The Man in the Suit and Nerine, who had stayed till the worst of the storm had passed, were riding in his cab, "so you decided to take yourself out of action huh?" Shamus puffed rudely, "you stupid cranes will do anything to get out of work, which leaves me to do..."

"That's enough Shamus!" the Man in the Suit said firmly. He climbed down from the cab first, followed quickly by Nerine.

"Are you okay Rick?" Nerine asked.

Rick didn't answer, he was in too much shock. Li's Driver climbed down from his engine's cab and walked over to Rick's cabin, only to discover it was empty, "where's his..."

"Oh my gosh, what happened to my crane?" a voice asked.

Everyone looked to see Rick's operator running up to the fallen crane. Like his crane, he too was in complete shock, "how did this happen?"

"That's what I would like to know," said the Man in the Suit.

"I think I know the problem," said Li's fireman, "the ground underneath the concrete base is soft like muck, but I don't think it has anything to do with the rain."

"What do you think it is fireman?" asked the Man in the Suit.

"It's the result of a broken pipe underneath Rick's concrete stand, that's the sound we heard earlier when we arrived. It had burst which turned the earth underneath the base into the soft muck...and the rest you already know."

"And here I thought it was the rain that caused the earth to turn into mud," said Li, "remember it did that once before, according to what Sia said about her run with James that rainy day."

"That was different from this situtation Li," said the Man in the Suit, "what happened to James was the cause of erison, this happened because of a burst pipe. We'll have to phone the main company of that pipe and tell them to close it up, then we'll replace the burst pipe..."

"What about me?" called a voice, it was Rick. The shock had finally wore off, "how long am I going have to stay like this?"

"Forever I hope," chuckled Shamus, but went quiet when he saw the firm looks on the faces of Nerine, Li's crew and the Man in the Suit.

"We don't know how long it's going to take Rick, might be two to three weeks before we finally have you back up on your legs again," the Man in the Suit answered, "can't do anything until the rain stops I'm afriad."

"So does that mean you're going to leave me here?" Rick cried in alarm.

"At least till morning. Nerine, after I make the call to shut down that pipe, I'll give you a drive home. I'm sure your dad is probably getting worried about you."

"Thank you sir," smiled Nerine.

"Hey come on!" cried Rick as everyone walked away, "don't leave me here!"

But everyone did leave, all except for the workman, who directed Shamus and his train into the proper siding, then the two engines set off for the sheds. As Li passed, he called out, "you were right Rick, a storm can't knock you down - but a little bit of water can."

Rick's shouts were drowned out by a loud rumble of thunder, good thing too cause what he said didn't sound polite.

By seven thirty the next morning, the storms had finally gone, which meant now that the work near Rick's original standing post could begin. As for Rick, since he was blocking all operations, the workmen had to take him apart and then Nora loaded him onto trucks which Big Mac and Luke took back to the warehouse district.

"Don't worry Rick," the Man in the Suit said to him, "we'll have you up and running again once the construction work is done."

"Understood sir, but what about the cargo shops? I mean, those crates can be heavy at times, you'll need a strong crane to handle all the work."

"Quite so, that's why I've enlisted the help of a friend from the district, he will do all your jobs until you're back in operation. Now you get some rest Rick, you look like you haven't slept in ages."

"Believe me sir, it's hard sleeping when the rain is pouring down on you. Tell me though sir, who will be working in my place?"

"Well it's..." but I mustn't reveal anymore or else I'll spoil the next story for you.

**Author's Note:**

This story was deeply inspired by a real life event where a construction crane fell without warning. Reasons for the fall was blamed on a pipe that had burst open, making the ground underneath the crane soft, thus the reason why the crane fell.

_**Masuko Takes a Dip**_

"The Man in the Suit wants me where?" Masuko asked in shock. His manager had come out of the office to speak with Masuko after having a discussion with the Man in the Suit.

"He wants you to work at the dockyards until they are ready to put Rick back on his stand," said his manager, "Li will be coming by in a short while to take you there."

"Well sir, I would like to help, but I'm worried about the work around here."

"You don't need to worry about the work around here, Nayuki can take care of all your jobs until you come back. The Man in the Suit needs a really useful crane down by the dockyards, I recommanded you because you are indeed a hard working really useful crane."

Masuko blushed into a shade red, "well I guess it would be okay to work by the dockyards," he said after a while, "it might be a nice change."

"That's the spirit," smiled the manager, "I know you will do us all proud."

While waiting for Li to arrive, Masuko helped Nayuki do the work around the shops. Li soon arrived with a loaded goods train, "just give me a minute Li and I'll be ready to go," said the shop crane.

"Okay Masuko, I'll see you at the front of the train!"

Masuko was backed onto a flatbed carefully and tied down. Li shunted his trucks into a siding for Ken to shunt, then he went to the front of the train he was to take back to the dockyards.

"Have a good time at the dockyards!" Ken, Nayuki, the workmen and even Kayio the Park Railway Engine called to him.

"I will!" he called back as Li's whistle blew, then the train started slowly out of the warehouse district. While everyone was happy to see Masuko get a 'change of pace', they were sorry to see him go and Masuko was actually sad to be leaving, even for a short period of time.

His spirits were lifted though as Li made his way down the line and he saw all the sights of the city, "so Masuko, are you excited to be working at the dockyards?"

"Does a dog bark?" Masuko asked with a chuckle.

Li chuckled along to that, "I'll take that as a yes then. Oh and before we arrive, I need to warn you about Shamus, he can be a bit rough, so be on your guard around him."

"Thanks for the warning, I'll keep a good look out when we get there."

After arriving, Masuko was unloaded from the flatbed and sent to work. He ran back and forth across the dockyards taking the heavy crates from one place to another and helped with other 'odd-jobs' that a crane usually does. Masuko enjoyed his visit at the dockyards, he found that working close to the ocean was very different compared to working in the warehouse district.

His visit there was quite enjoyable, except for one thing...Shamus!

Whenever Shamus came into the dockyards, he was either grumbling about his extra work or he would be barking orders at everyone, telling them to hurry up, "I'll have rusted away by the time you slackers are done with your work, so hurry it up!"

As per usual, the workmen took no notice of Shamus' shouting and ranting, they just continued on with their work. Being ignored though made Shamus cross and he took his anger out on the trucks, "ow! Ow! Ow!" cried the trucks, "you don't need to be so hard you know!"

"Oh shut up!" snapped Shamus and bumped the trucks even harder.

"You know, it's rough treatment like that which often damages merchandise," said Masuko, "you should really be more careful Shamus!"

"Pah, what do you know about goods trains?" sniffed Shamus, "you're only a crane!"

"Maybe, but cranes like me are the ones who help to unload your trucks. With your rough attitude though, when we end up taking your cargo out, we find it all damaged and then we hear nothing but complaints."

"So in simple terms," said a dock worker, "please be more careful!"

"Pah!" snorted Shamus and puffed angerily away to collect some more trucks, still bumping them as he went. Masuko just sighed and went back to work.

A few days later, Big Mac was shunting some trucks he brought down from the warehouse district, he was shunting them carefully into a siding. He was almost done his work when a yard worker came up, "can you come to the yards please?" he asked, "Courtney is suppose to take some old coaches down to the workshops to be repaired, but there are some trucks blocking the way into the siding."

"Say no more, we're on our way, once we uncouple the trucks," said Big Mac's Driver.

"Better put the brakes on them too, just to be on the safe side," said Big Mac.

"Good thinking old boy," smiled his Driver. So after uncoupling the first truck from Big Mac's tender, the Driver and the fireman went along the train applying the brakes, "in case someone doesn't stop in time, then our trucks won't roll down the line to the water's edge. Now let's go see to those trucks."

The yard worker climbed aboard and Big Mac set off for the yards.

No sooner was he out of sight though then trouble came. Shamus was coming in with a train of trucks, he was pushing from behind, he was cross, "I normally run with the trucks behind me, then they can see how important I am!" he grumbled, "if I'm back here, then they'll probably tease me about being a back engine!"

"No we won't," said the trucks, feeling offended, "We wouldn't..."

"Just shut your traps already!" snapped Shamus.

He was so focused on arguing that he didn't notice that he had already gone over the points leading down the track to Big Mac's train. A yard worker saw Shamus and shouted, but his warning was drowned out by Shamus' shouting. The fireman however had heard the warning, "apply the brakes!" he cried to the Driver, "there's a train ahead of us!"

"Of course there is a train ahead of us you idiot!" snapped Shamus, "I'm pushing the train!"

"No that's not what I meant. I meant there's a..." too little, too late. There was a loud bang, the train jolted before stopping - then they heard some crashing sounds coming from up ahead.

"What was that?" groaned the Driver, who fell back into the coal bunker of the tender when the train hit.

"That's what I was trying to tell you and Shamus," said the fireman, "there was another train parked on this line and we ran smack into it."

The Driver got up and looked out the cab, "oh no," he groaned, "this is another fine mess we got ourselves into. We should've been paying more attention to what was ahead of us."

"We would've known better, had Shamus not been shouting at the trucks again."

Shamus was in too much of a daze to know what was going on. Masuko rolled over to where they were, "hey guys, I saw you crash into those trucks, is everyone okay?"

"We're fine Masuko," Shamus' Driver answered, "although I don't think I can say the same for Shamus, for once he's speechless. Ah, how many trucks derailed."

Masuko's operator took a look, "only four of them were knocked off the rails...oh boy," he gasped, "there's one tanker standing _on_ the edge of the dock, we better get over there and get that truck back onto solid ground before it falls into the ocean."

"Agreed," said Masuko and after a quick turn around, he rolled around the train until he was close to the derailed truck.

His operator postioned the crane hook, then jumped down to attach the coupling to Masuko's hook, then he climbed back into the cab, "Alright Masuko, easy does it now."

Masuko pulled hard, but the tanker was heavy, despite it being empty. Masuko's wheels spun furiously, but at last the tanker started to roll to safety.

"Nice work once again Masuko," called the Man in the Suit, who was watching the operation, after speaking with Shamus' crew, "you are..."

He never finished what he was going to say. There was a muffled bang coming from the engine, Masuko's wheels stopped spinning, then..."help! Help!" cried Masuko. The tanker was now pulling itself and Masuko towards the water. Masuko's operator tried everything he could, but it was no use - at the last second, he jumped out of the cab while Masuko followed the tanker into the water with a loud splash!

"AHH!" Masuko cried, "I wasn't expecting a bath!"

"Like I said," groaned Shamus' Driver, "this is another fine mess we got ourselves into."

The Man in the Suit ran off to find Nora, luckily she was steam and ready to help. She chugged over to the scene of disaster, "don't worry Masuko, we'll soon have you back on firm ground."

Nora was true to her word, Masuko was soon brought back onto solid ground, but he felt cold and wet. "T...thank you...N...Nora," he shivered.

The Man in the Suit walked up to Shamus, "do you now know why I, along with others, are telling you to be more careful when you work?"

"It wasn't my fault he went into the water," Shamus sniffed, by now he had recovered from the shock, "he should've known that truck was too heavy for him to lift back onto the dock."

"He wouldn't have needed to do that had you been careful and paying attention to when someone is shouting warnings to you. Shamus, for the next two weeks, you will be doing shunting work in the yards, I'm sure Big Mac and Luke can handle your work alone."

Shamus grumbled under his breath, but very quietly so that the Man in the Suit couldn't hear him. The Man in the Suit walked over to Masuko, "don't worry Masuko, we'll soon have you repaired and working as good as new again."

"T...thank...you...sir," shivered Masuko, "al...although I'm enjoying my visit t..to the dockyards...I don't want...t...to take...another cold bath..."

**Author's Note:**

This story was deeply inspired by a real life event where a crane was being used to help bring a car back up to the dock, but the car proved too heavy and dragged the crane into the water. Another crane had to be called to rescue both the car and the crane, where and when it happened is unknown. Shamus' accident was pureply fictionial.

_**Nayuki Catches the Thieves**_

While Masuko was working hard at the dockyards, Nayuki continued with the work in the warehouse district. Everything seemed to be going well, that was until she overheard one worker say, "have you seen the big tool box anywhere?"

"It's beside the manager's office like it always is," said another worker.

"Well it's not there now, there's nothing there."

"What?" the other worker asked in surprise. He looked over to the direction of where the shop's big red tool box would be and to his horror, the tool box wasn't there, "what the...where did it go? Did someone move it?"

"Well if they did, they sure put it in a good hiding spot, cause I can't find it anywhere," said a third worker.

"Maybe it's one of those late night workers," said Rick, who was still sitting on a flatbed following his fall.

"What late night workers?" asked the second workman, "we usually do the work during the day, we never work into the night...you don't think..."

"We've been robbed," gasped the first worker.

"Yes we've been robbed," said the manager, who had overheard their conversation, "and it's not the first time our shops have been robbed. Several new parts we've ordered have been going missing as if late, but the strangest thing is the doors are never damaged by brute force and no windows are smashed either."

"Then how are they getting inside the warehouse?" asked the third worker.

"I don't know, but hopefully we find out soon before anymore items go missing in our shops."

A little later, Courtey arrived with a goods train and with Nerine riding in her cab again. Nayuki told Courtney and Nerine everything about the missing tools and equipment.

"Hmm, definetly thieves," Courtney said thoughtfully, "almost sounds like those Tokyo Terrors to me."

"It's probably them for sure," said Nerine, "I heard on the news the other night that several Tokyo Terrors had escaped from jail, but without their Tokyo Terror Queen."

"As I recall," Nerine continued, "the Tokyo Terrors used to steal anything valuable from electronics, tools and even parts for any machine from cars, lorries...anything that runs on wheels, they would steal it."

"But we don't know for sure if these are the Tokyo Terrors," said Courtney, "and I don't think we'll really know unless we set a trap up for them like we did before when we caught Sakura."

"I don't think the Man in the Suit will allow that to happen again Courtney," said her Driver, "it was dangerous to do so last time and if no one is around, then who's to stop the runaway engine?"

"But someone could still stay up and keep a look out for them," suggested Nerine.

"I'll do it," said Nayuki firmly and with such determination in her voice, "the Warehouse District is my home and I'll keep a good look out for these thieves. I will not allow them to steal anymore items from my home."

"You're alone there girl," said her operator, "I'll stay with you. When we spot them, I'll call the police."

"Thank you," smiled Nayuki.

So that night, Nayuki and her operator stayed awake and kept a look out on the shops. Rick had already fallen asleep after the workers left. It was quiet in the workshops, apart from the occassional squeak of a mouse looking for food and the only light inside the shop came from a lightbulb above the window outside of the manager's office.

"Are you still awake?" Nayuki asked her operator.

"Yeah Nayuki, I'm still awake," he answered back, "don't worry, I'm keeping an eye out too."

They waited for another hour, but still there was no one to be seen. Then at around Midnight, Nayuki heard a creaking sound coming from the back of the shops, "Where is that coming from?"

"It's the door in the back of the shops," he whispered back to his crane, "it's the door most workers go threw in the morning to get into the shops. I guess these thieves have managed to crack the lock on the door."

Nayuki and her operator went quiet and listened carefully as the thieves spoke to each other, "there's a lot in this shop we can take," said one, "we can then sell them on the market and get more money."

"And with all that money," said the other thief, "we can get the Terror Queen Sakura out of jail, then the Tokyo Terrors will rule this city again."

"Yes," agreed the first one, "now come on, let's get to work."

And that's just what they did too, they went about the shops getting whatever they could get their hands on, all the while making sure they didn't make a sound to wake Ken or any of the other machines up. They had no idea that Nayuki and her operator were watching their every move, "call the police," Nayuki whispered to her operator.

"Already on it girl," said her operator and got out his mobile phone, "hello police, I like to report a robbery going on at the Warehouse District. There are thieves trying to steal tools and equipment. These are the same guys who escaped from jail, they're the Tokyo Terrors."

"Don't you worry sir, we're on our way right now," the officer on the other end of the phone said.

The thieves continued on with their dirty work until they more than they could carry. "Alright, let's get these things out of here and then we'll be on our way."

Both Nayuki and her operator stayed as quiet as they could, if they made any noise, the thieves would make a run for it.

"Hopefully," Nayuki's operator whispered quietly to the crane, "if they go at the pace they're going, by the time they're ready to go, the police will be here and they'll arrest these guys."

Or so they thought...

The thieves were halfway threw the shop when one of them dropped a piece of equipment, which woke Rick up, "hey, what are you doing in here?" he snapped as he stared at the thieves, "You're not suppose to be in here!"

"Shoot!" groaned the second thief, "let's get out of here!"

They dropped everything and ran as fast as they could, "oh Chikusho," groaned Nayuki, "time to put Plan B into motion!"

Her operator didn't need telling twice, he turned on the motor and moved Nayuki towards the door.

"What the?" gasped the second thief, "I thought all the workers left hours ago, so how is that crane moving?"

The first thief groaned, "there's only way how, the crane's operator must've stayed to keep an eye on the place. Now come on let's go before we're caught!"

But they were going to get caught. Nayuki had a large crate hanging on her hooks, Plan B was to block their enterance way to prevent them from escaping. Nayuki was moving slowly, but still she was a lot faster than the thieves and soon she had reached the door. Her operator lowered the crate slowly until it landed right in front of the door.

"Oh no," groaned the second thief, "They got us!"

"They don't have us Baka!" snapped the first theif, "there's another way out of here, the main enterance, now let's go!"

Nayuki and her operator could only watch as the thieves ran away from them, "oh no," groaned Nayuki, "now they will get away with their crime."

But she was wrong. The thieves ran out the enterance way...only to run into the police, who had just arrived, "get down on your knees!" shouted one of the officers, "Do it now!"

The thieves had no choice, they got down on their knees and the officers arrested them.

The officers walked into the workshops, first they thanked Nayuki's operator and then spoke to the crane, "by blocking their pathway to their car, you just prevented a high speed chase," they said, "thank you for all your help, we'll take it from here."

With that said, the officers turned and walked away back to their police cars.

The next morning when the workers and the manager came into the shops, they were surprised to find tools and equipment on the floor of their shop, "have we been robbed again?" asked a worker.

"Not this time we haven't," said Nayuki's operator, who told the workers and the manager everything, "thanks to Nayuki's determination and clever thinking, the thieves are now back in jail and the police have phoned to say that they found the rest of our tools and equipment and they'll soon deliver it back to us."

"Most excellent," smiled the manager, "well done Nayuki and to your operator too, thanks to you both, we don't have to worry about anymore tools and equipment ever going missing."

_**The End!**_


	23. Little Tokyo Friends

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 23**_

_**Little Tokyo Friends**_

_**Based on the Original (2010) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000 and D.J. Scales**_

Dear Friends,

_Courtney and Li have been asking us for some time if we could write up a book all about their friends, "they deserve a book all to themselves after all they went threw," said Li. We asked both Li and Courtney of everything that happened and they told us quite a bit. Even Thomas told us some a bit about his friends, starting with Kaede's past and Rin...well, we better not say anymore or we'll spoil the stories for you. Anyways, we hope you will enjoy this book about these Little Tokyo friends._

The Authors

**Stories Included:**

-Kikyou

-Rin & Kikyou's Day Out

-Asa's Day Out with Rin

-The Story of Rin & Kaede's Childhood

-Rin's Confession

*Special Thanks to D.J. Scales for his help in stories 1 & 2

_**Kikyou**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000 and D.J. Scales**_

It was a cool autumn's morning in November, Rin, Kaede and their friends were walking along to their school. As they were walking along, they heard a familar whistle at the Little Tokyo Railroad, "that sounds like Thomas," said Primula.

"It is Thomas," gasped Nerine.

And she was right. They could see their friend, Thomas the Tank Engine, working in the shunting yards. Rin and the girls walked up to the shunting yards, "hello my friends," Thomas called, "it's good to see all of you again."

"And it's always a pleasure to see you Thomas," smiled Asa, "but what are you doing here? I thought you would be busy on the Ffarquhar branch line."

"So did I, but it turns out that there isn't alot of work on my branch line, most of us are staying in the shed until we're needed. The Fat Controller said I could come here and help out with some of the work and so I left Sodor three days ago and here I am."

"But how did they unload you?" Rin asked, "after all Rick is at the Warehouse district."

"No he's not," Thomas' Driver said while looking to the docks. Rin and the girls looked too to see Rick standing tall and proud once more, "from what we were told last night, five of the six engines were used to lift Rick back up."

"There were about five engines used to get him back up," said Nerine. Her friends looked back at her, "I stopped by on my way home after getting grogeries and I saw everything. Courtney, Laura and Li were pulling him up while Luke and Big Mac were on the other side, just in case Rick tipped over to the other side."

"Did he?" Primula asked.

"A little bit, but thanks to their determination, they got Rick back up in no time."

"Good," Primula turned her attention back to Thomas, "it is good to see you again Thomas. Have you gotten the chance to speak with the new engines?"

"Yes I have, I spoke with Laura first last night...I'm actually quite surprised she's still working here, wasn't her owner suppose to come get her?"

"They were," Nerine answered, "but they haven't, maybe they're just busy at this time."

"Hmm possibly," said Asa beofe turning back to Thomas, "have you spoken to Big Mac?"

"Yes I have, Big Mac is just like our Edward," Thomas smiled, but it soon faded, "and I also got reunited with that Shamus, I see he's still just as bad as he was when he first came to Sodor."

As if right on cue, Shamus puffed past with a goods train and as usual, he was bumping the trucks and shouting at them.

"Yep, still the same," Thomas muttered quietly. He watched as Shamus puffed away, then he turned his attention back to his friends, "so how have you all been doing?"

"We've been pretty good," Rin answered, "our little Primula has become quite a chatterbox."

Thomas chuckled, "yes I've heard about that...and I also heard from Courtney that Nerine was in charge of the Little Tokyo Railroad."

"That would be correct Thomas," said Nerine, "I was in charge at one time and all the engines nicknamed me 'The Tokyo Controller' while I was in charge."

" 'The Tokyo Controller' huh? Hmm, it's a nice name," Thomas smiled.

"Come on Thomas, we got to get back to work," said his Driver, "and you guys better get going, otherwise you're going to be late for school."

"We'll come by to see you later Thomas," said Primula, "maybe we can talk some more."

"That would be great," said Thomas, "Anwyays you have a good day at school and I'll see you later," with that said, Thomas puffed off to collect some more trucks while his friends set off for school.

Since Thomas' last visit to Tokyo, Primula has become more of an open person and now she likes talking to anyone she meets. As for Nerine, she has been showing more of her true self and often at night, she will practice singing. And as for Sia, she has been struggling to deal with the one being in her life that gave her more trouble than James the Red Engine did on her first visit to Sodor.

Almost every day whenever she looked in a mirror, she saw someone who looked alot like her, but always had a smirked look on her face. Only known to her was her twin sister, who goes by the name of Kikyou.

After a long day at school, Sia walked along with her friends to the Little Tokyo Railroad. Her friends were talking about what they were going to be doing tomorrow considering it was a school holiday.

"As long as we're talking about the School Holiday," Asa spoke up, "I wanted to talk to you Rin, I need your help."

"Oh?" he asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah well, my mom and I are going to be busy with doing some household projects and I was wondering if you could maybe come by and give us a hand with some of the projects."

"Well of course I'll help you Asa," he said kindly, "I'll come by after I get the grogeries tomorrow. I promised Kaede I would get the grogeries for her while she and Primula do some clothes shopping."

"Boy are you going to be busy tomorrow," Asa giggled, "still, I'll be waiting for you Rin..." she paused before adding in a kind way, "Thank you."

Nerine looked back for one second and noticed that Sia was walking far away from them, "Sia, is everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah," she said, snapping out of her thoughts and ran to catch up with her friends.

She and the rest of her friends went by the Little Tokyo Railroad to speak with Thomas, but Sia only stayed for a short period of time, "I got some things I got to take of care of at home," she said, "but I'll come by again tomorrow." With that said, she turned on her heel and walked away.

After getting home, Sia worked on her homework and then did some of the housework.

Later on that night, Sia had returned to her room after making dinner for her father and was standing in front of a mirror. A few seconds later, the reflection in the mirror changed from that of herself to a girl that looked like her. This of course was her twin sister Kikyou.

"What the heck just happened earlier today Sia?" Kikyou snapped from the mirror. "You had a chance to talk to Rin and you blew it."

"I was just waiting for the right moment," Sia shot back, "I don't want to rush things."

"Don't want to rush things, pah!" Kikyou waved off, "You're pathetic! Even our cousin on Sodor has more backbone than you and she's the Daughter of that red Engine's Driver. I even told you to take care of that 'James' and yet you didn't."

"I didn't want to hurt him, he's my friend."

"Huh? You could've fooled me with the way he was acting in front of you at first," Kikyou went silentl for a moment, then she showed a firm look on her face.

"This is where we have a problem Sia," Kikyou said firmly, "You had a chance to take care of business, but you didn't. So now I'm doing it myself."

"What?"

"You heard me right, I'm doing it myself." Sia closed her eyes for a second and after a few seconds she opened them only to let out a sly grin.

"You're sitting this one out Sia," Kikyou said, "Now I can show you how I do things. And Good thing too since tomorrow's a day off from school."

Rin had left early the next morning from Kaede's house as he headed off to go shopping for groceries that day before going to spend the night helping out at Asa's house later on. Rin had already left the house early so as he could get the bags of grogeries.

"The things I do to help others," Rin sighed to himself as he dropped off the groceries back at Kaede's house before heading off to the park. "Oh well at least this will take some of the burden off Kaede for a bit."

He was just on his way to the park where he found a surprising sight before him. There sitting on the fence was Sia or at least who he thought was Sia. What he didn't know was that this was Sia's sister Kikyou.

"Sia, what are you doing here?" Rin asked in surprise. He wasn't expecting to see the red head on his way to the park.

_**Rin and Kikyou's Day Out**_

_**Written by: D.J. Scales and ThomasZoey3000**_

"I was just looking for you so we can get ready for our date today," Kikyou said slyly as she hopped off the fence and landed in front of Rin.

"Date?" Rin said shocked, "I don't remember promising you to go out on a date today. And besides, I promised Asa I would meet her later today."

"Well since you didn't promise to meet her right now, we've got time for our little date," Kikyou said with a sly grin.

"I suppose we can spend some time together," Rin said as he let who he thought was Sia drag him off away from the park. "It's not like I'm breaking my promise to Asa to meet her later today," he thought to himself.

Meanwhile Thomas was on Passenger Runs today. The Man in the Suit chose him since the other engines were needed on goods work or Shunting duties. Thomas was delighted as he was showing the visitors around the Railway and the coaches thought he was very kind. What made this trip even more special was that the coaches Thomas was taking happened to be the orange coaches built in the same style as Annie and Clarabel and that they used to work with them together on a different line.

"So how is it that you know Annie and Clarabel?" Thomas asked the coaches as he was pulling them gently along the line.

"Well we used to work together with them at the time," The lead coach spoke kindly. "Some of us were built to carry passengers, while some of us were built to be dining coaches."

"And a few of us were built to carry the guard as well," The coach on the tail end of the train spoke, "so in a way before I was built to be like the one you call Clarabel, I was one who carried the Guard."

"That's interesting to know. I'll be sure to tell the other engines that when I return home to Sodor," Thomas said as he slowed down at a nearby station. The passengers got out and Thomas was brought over to the water tower and coal bunker near the station to fill his tank and bunker with water and coal. When he had his coal and water his crew brought their engine to the station platform to let him rest.

"We're going to be on break for lunch Thomas," The Driver explained, "We'll be back."

Then he and the fireman left for a bit which left Thomas to chat with the coaches. While he was doing that however he almost didn't notice Sia enter the restaurant that was close to the Station with Rin panting behind her.

"That's odd," The Blue Tank Engine thought, "Sia and Rin didn't mention that they were going on a date today. I guess it must be a day off from school today."

"Thomas. Thomas," called one of the coaches, "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing, I was just thinking of something," Thomas said and he told the coaches what he was thinking of.

"I suppose that could be something odd," One of the other coaches said with a polite attitude and Scottish accent.

"I just hope the fan clubs leave them alone today," Another coach in the train said with a cynical attitude, "but then again that's only wishful thinking."

While Thomas and the other coaches gave the cynical sounding coach a few words about watching her tone, Kikyou and Rin were enjoying their date. Well Kikyou was, but Rin was still worried.

"It's odd that Sia has become so assertive all of a sudden," Rin thought as he ate his food, "It's as if she's become a different person."

Rin wanted to think more of the subject but before he could, he felt himself being dragged away from the table as soon as he finished his last bite. Kikyou paid the bill and dragged Rin off to another part of town.

Later on at the Shigure house, Asa was getting impatient and pacing back and forth in the living room waiting. "Oh come on Rin, where are you? You said you would help me."

"Still no sign of Rin?" Ms. Ama asked.

"No, no sign of him at all...I wonder if he's even left Kaede's house. I'll call her and ask her." She pulled out her mobile phone and called Kaede, "so, you haven't seen him at all? Okay, I was just wondering...thanks anyways Kaede," she hung up and spoke to her mother, "Kaede and Rimu haven't seen Rin either, last they saw him was when they left earlier this morning."

"Don't worry Asa, I'm sure Rin will come by soon, he's just probably doing some other chores."

"Hope you're right. He promised to help and if he doesn't show up, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind next time I see him."

Asa wasn't the only one wondering where was, the members of Sia's fan-club were looking for him too. They wanted to give him a piece of their minds, but it was very different from what Asa would do.

Shamus was in one of the sidings sleeping after he had taken a goods train to the Transfer Point. His crew was on a lunch break and he was dreaming about wanting to be on the front of a passenger train when suddenly he felt his dome get hit by something. The Green Tender Engine opened an eye and saw that some boys were throwing rubbish like cans and tin foil at him causing him to wake up groggily and very annoyed.

"Hey! What in blazes are you idiots doing?" Shamus snapped in a tired tone that showed he did not like being disturbed from his sleep. "What the heck do you want?"

"Shut it kettle!" said one of the boys, "we're looking for Rin, have you seen him?"

"That loser?" Shamus shot back, "haven't seen him. Now Scram!"

"Don't lie to us kettle," said another boy, "or we'll pelt you with more garbage."

These boys were alot like the boys of Nerine's fan-club - a little too much like them. They didn't like anyone being close to Sia and would try to teach that someone a lesson their way, which would often backfire like Nerine's fan-club's plans would.

"I have no idea where he is right now and personally I don't care," Shamus retorted sharply, "now go ask the Warehouse district cranes and engine there. I'm trying to sleep here."

"So Rin's probably at the warehouse District," said a third boy of the group, "Thanks for telling us where to find him."

Shamus went back to sleep, whipsering very quietly, "foolish boys," he muttered, he didn't care who they were as he was going right back to sleep.

Of course the boys were caught when they tried to sneak into the shops, "can we help you boys?" asked the workshop manager.

"Ah...we're...we're looking for a guy named Rin, we were told he was here," said one of the boys.

"Sorry, but there is no one here named Rin."

"What?" exclaimed another boy and then realised, "that stupid engine, let's get him." Without thinking that someone could've heard them, the boys ran off to get their payback on Shamus.

While they were doing that, the workshop manager called the Man in the Suit and informed him of what the boys were going to do.

"Don't worry, we'll be ready when they come," said the Man in the Suit on the other end of the phone.

As for Rin, Kikyou dragged him all around the city of Tokyo. She first took him to a clothing store so Kikyou could try on different outfits to wear for different days. Then she dragged Rin to the park where they tried to watch the birds but that didn't go as planned. Later on Rin had looked worn out as he and Kikyou were back at the park and were watching the sunset.

"Oh great, I was supposed to meet Asa today and I completely lost track of time," Rin thought, "I just hope she doesn't kill me for this."

"What's wrong Rin?" Kikyou asked, "didn't you have fun today?"

"Fun?" Rin said shocked, "I was supposed to meet Asa later today, but I completely forgot thanks to the date today Sia. I can't believe I let you talk me into going on a date today."

"But I thought you would enjoy our date?" Kikyou said looking and sounding hurt.

"Well I was hoping that we could've had our date at another time but you insisted it had to be today," Rin said firmly, "I don't know what's gotten into you Sia, but you've changed."

And on that note Rin walked away slowly as he went to meet Asa before the day was out.

Of course Asa wasn't happy that Rin had been late, "what kept you Rin?" she asked angerily, "you said you would be here after you had finished with your shopping, so unless you had to make multiple trips to the grogery store, you better start explaining why you were late."

"I'm sorry Asa," Rin said apologetically, "I guess I got a little sidetracked, cause I remembered I had some other things I had to take care of, but if I had remembered properly, I would have come to help."

"You could've called though."

"I'm sorry Asa, I guess I just forgot. Is there anything I can do to make it to you?"

"Well there is a way," she answered with a sly grin, "help us with the rest of this work, then for the next two weeks, you can carry my homework home. I think that a good way for you to make it up to me, don't you think so?"

"Yes I do," he nodded. And with that confirmed, Asa and Rin went to work.

When night fell Kikyou headed home looking glum as she stared in a mirror seeing Sia instead of a reflection of herself.

"I don't get it!" Kikyou snapped to the mirror, "I try to give Rin the most unforgettable date today and it ended on a sour note. What happened?"

"Well let's see...you dragged Rin all over the city on your terms and tried to force him to break his promise," Sia scolded. "Now he thinks I've completely changed."

"But I was just trying to help you get Rin," Kikyou said, "if you had a back bone I wouldn't have had to step in like I did just now."

"Well I was doing just fine but then you decided to interfere," Sia retorted, "perhaps it would be better if you didn't but in."

"Fine, I see how it is," Kikyou said sadly as she faded and handed Sia control of her body again, "just don't blow this for both of us."

Sia knew that her words cut Kikyou deeply and she would have to apologize.

Next morning Rin was out for a walk when he ran into Sia. He could see that Sia wanted to say something to him and fortunately it was Saturday so that meant he had time to talk.

"Rin, we need to talk," Sia said seriously as she led Rin into a field of Sunflowers. "The person that dragged you on that date yesterday wasn't really me. It was my twin sister Kikyou."

"You have a sister?" Rin asked shocked.

"Well yes and no," Sia sighed, "It's difficult to explain. Back when I was about to be born something happened and Kikyou was about to die. I didn't want to lose her so I decided to absorb her soul into my body. I guess you can say that there are two people living in my body."

"Sia, why didn't you tell me this before?" Rin questioned gently not wanting to push the subject.

"I didn't know how to tell you," Sia sadly admitted, "I was afraid that I would lose you as a friend."

"Sia you know that I wouldn't have left you as a friend over this," Rin said, "sure you've got your sister's soul inside you, but that doesn't change who you really are."

"Thanks Rin I really needed to hear that," Sia said as she and Rin headed off to try and work on their friendship.

_**Asa's Day Out With Rin**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Rin Tsuchimi has lots of friends, some of them are on the railways, others are on the roads, while the rest of his friends are humans or beings from the two realms. Most of his friends are girls like Kaede, Primula, Sia, Nerine and Asa, because of this, many boys are jealous of Rin and will often try to seperate him from his friends, which only backfires on them.

Asa has been a friend of Rin's ever since Kaede signed up for cooking classes in Junior High. Ever since then, Rin and Asa have been the best of friends, but it seemed that lately that they were becoming more than just friends...

On the following Friday afternoon, Rin was walking with Asa back to the Shigure house while carrying her school books, as he promised her.

"Don't break your promise again Rin," she said firmly to him, "otherwise next time I'll ask you to carry me along with my books."

Asa was teasing, of course, but Rin promised that he wouldn't let Asa down again. They soon came up to the Little Tokyo Railroad's big station where they met an unwelcoming party...it was Sia's fan-club, the same members from before, who were let off with a warning from the staff.

"We've been looking for you Rin," one of the boys said with an angry look on his face, "you made our friends in Nerine's fan club look like a bunch of bakas, now we're going to teach you a lesson."

"You'll do no such thing," Asa said firmly. She stepped in front of Rin, "if you want Rin, you're going have to go threw me."

"Well if you insist," said another one of the boys, "then we'll give you the same lesson as Rin."

Before the foolish boys could do anything, a cloud of steam surronded them, making it hard for them to see, "what? Who did that?" asked the third boy in the group.

They all looked to see Thomas at the platform with the coaches, he was wheesing steam at the boys and staring at them crossly, "you're just like Nerine's fan-club, causing trouble for my friends," he said angerily, "now leave them alone." A second wheesh of steam was blown out, which surronded the boys.

"Oh stop it!" cried the leader of their little group. At last the steam disappeared, but that wasn't all that had disappeared...Rin and Asa had made their escape while Thomas was wheesing steam, "oh chikusho!" he cried.

Thomas showed a small smirk and puffed away as he heard the guard's whistle.

"Thomas, I don't think you're suppose to do that," said Layla, one of the coaches behind him.

"If you ask me," said the tail end coach, otherwise known as Ayumi, "Thomas did the right thing wheesing at them, good job Thomas, that's teaching them a lesson."

"Sometimes she doesn't know right from wrong," Nodoka whispered to Layla. The first coach quietly agreed with Nodoka.

Passing the first level crossing, Thomas saw Asa and Rin walking along, they stopped and waved to Thomas as their way of saying 'thank you', Thomas whistled back to them as he continued on his way.

Rin sighed as they continued on their way, "if I'm not dealing with Nerine's fan-club, then it's Sia's fan club, when are these guys ever going to leave me alone?"

"Don't worry about them Rin, they're just the type of people who like seeing people pushed to their breaking point. Just ignore them."

"I will."

"Oh hey Rin, I was just wondering, are you going to be busy tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night? Ah..." he paused while thinking, "nope, tomorrow night I'm free, why do you ask Asa?"

"Oh no reason...well actually there is a reason," she admitted, "I just want to hang out with you and well, I was just wondering, if maybe you would like to join me at the Amusement Park?"

"Well of course I would like to hang out with you...wait, the Amusement Park with the Park Railway Engines? I thought it closed after the Autumn Festival."

"No, it hasn't closed yet, it's actually staying open till December and reopen again in April."

"Oh okay, well in that case, I'll be glad to hang out with you tomorrow Asa."

"Alright then, we'll meet at the front gate at five in the afternoon and don't be late," she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Don't worry, this time I'll be on time, I promise."

"Good," and the two teenagers continued on their way to the Shigure house.

Four Fifty-five next afternoon, Asa was waiting outside the gates of the Amusement Park. She had been so excited about hanging out with Rin that she had arrived earlier than expected. As she waited, she would look at her watch and look out for Rin, "Don't be late Rin," she said quietly.

She wouldn't have to wait too long cause within minutes, Rin arrived.

"On time for once Rin, that's good," Asa giggled, "now are you ready to go have some fun?"

"You bet I am," he smiled and followed along right behind Asa. What they didn't know was that four individuals were following closely behind them, trying their best not to be seen by them.

Rin and Asa got on board Michelle's train and rode all the way to the roller coaster area of the park.

"Enjoy the rides," Michelle called as she pulled away with her train.

The two teenagers did indeed have a wonderful time out, they went on almost every single ride, even the ones that go upside down, which left Rin a little green in the face.

"You alright Rin?"

"Yeah I'm fine, I'll be okay in a minute or so."

And he was, once Rin felt better, they went off to play some of the games. They played a lot and won several prizes, almost more than what they could carry, luckily though Rin brought a bag for Asa to carry her prizes in.

After the games, they rode on Karen's passenger train. Since Kayio's unexpected Cylinder Failure, Karen and Michelle each took a few more coaches than they normally would, and when they couldn't handle the heavy passenger trains, Gary would take some of the passengers while doing his own work.

Rin and Asa had a wonderful time out, they checked out the farm animals, rode on Darren's cart, and rode on more rides. One of Asa's favourites was a ride called 'The Tunnel of Love'.

At around sunset, they got onto the big ferris wheel for one last ride before heading off for home.

At the top of the ride, they could see not only the Park and the little Park Railway, but in the distance, they could see the Little Tokyo Railroad, "what a view," Asa smiled, then she turned her attention back to Rin, "hey Rin."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming along with me, I had a great time hanging out with you..." she paused as she looked down to the park area. She had spotted something out of the corner of her right eye, "Isn't that Itsuki, Mayumi and the princesses?"

Rin looked down and groaned, "it is them, but why are they here?"

"Well either to have some fun, or they are spying on us."

They decided to find out, so they waited till they reached the ground, then walked to the direction of where Asa spotted the gang, three of the four were looking very sorry, but Itsuki wasn't, he looked proud.

"You were following us weren't you?" Asa asked them firmly, they nodded. "Why were you following us?"

"Why else?" Itsuki snickered, "We wanted to make sure Rin didn't mess things up, like he's done so many times in the past and to see if he is following my advice."

"Itsuki's not correct about the advice," said Nerine, "but he is right about making sure you're okay Rin, no offence, but sometimes your plans don't always go according to plan."

"It's fine," said Rin, "but you didn't need to follow us, Asa and I were enjoying our day out...until now," he eyed Itsuki firmly, "I've told you this before, I'm not following your advice."

"And why not?"

"Why? Because you give the worst advice ever, you think you're an expert when in fact you're not," he then turned his attention back to Mayumi and the princesses, "I know you three were only looking out for me, but I would like to ask you not to do that again. Can you promise me that?"

"We promise," the princesses said in unison, all looking very shame faced indeed.

"Good," Rin turned his attention back to Itsuki once more, "as for you, I'm also asking you to never follow us again, otherwise next time I'm going to have a serious talk with you and trust me when I say this, what I will say is not going to sound polite."

"That'll serve you right for spying on Rin," Mayumi chuckled. Itsuki remained respectfully silent.

Following their discussion, Rin and Asa got onto Karen's train and rode all the way back to the enterance of the park. "Well despite being followed by our friends and Itskuki, I actually had a good time with you Rin."

"I'm glad to hear that, cause I had a good time with you too. Maybe we can do this again someday."

"Why Rin Tsuchimi, are you asking me out on a date?"

"Ah...yes. Yes I am, I'm asking you out on a date."

Asa started blushing the moment she heard Rin say that, "well Rin, I'd be more than glad to go with you again, just name where and when, then we'll go together."

"Alright," Rin smiled, blushing a bit, "now I want to ask you something."

"And what would that be?"

"Do you mind if I walk with you back to your house?" he asked while holding out his hand to Asa.

Asa smiled and held out her hand, grabbing Rin's hand with it, "I don't mind at all," she answered. And so, still holding hands, Asa and Rin headed off back to the Shigure House.

_**The Story of Rin and Kaede's Childhood**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

"You know what I think?" Li said the following next day in the yards, "I think Rin and Asa are falling in love."

"How do you know this?" Thomas asked.

"Well let's see..." Li paused for a second, "yesterday, Big Mac saw Rin heading off to the Amusement Park where the Park Railway is, and just last night, I saw Rin walking with Asa back to her house while holding hands."

"Well it makes perfect sense when you think about it," said Courtney as she shunted her trucks into a long line, "Asa and Rin do have a strong bond that goes back to when they were in Junior High, and they do seem like a great couple."

"My thoughts excatly," said Li.

But Thomas wasn't so sure, "I'd thought for sure that he and Kaede would become a couple, I mean those two have been friends for years, probably longer than Rin's friendship with Asa, plus he lives with Kaede."

"Good points there Thomas," said Courtney's Driver, "and you are right, Rin has been living with Kaede for a long time, they've actually been living together in the same house since they were kids."

"What?" Thomas exclaimed, "and how do you know this?"

"Kaede told us of course," Courtney answered, "but of course we don't know the whole story of why Rin moved in with her. If you want to find out, I'd suggest you talk to Kaede."

Just then, the guard's whistle blew and Thomas puffed away with his goods train. All day long though, Thomas never did see Kaede. Nerine and Sia popped once and a while, but Kaede didn't show up...at least not during the daytime.

At around sunset that evening, Thomas was puffing back into the station with an empty goods train. He shunted his trucks over into the yards, then puffed back to the sheds, just as Laura was leaving for her train. Thomas' crew went off to get something to eat, leaving their engine in the sheds alone, but not for long.

A familar young teenage girl with orange hair came walking up to the sheds, it was Kaede. "Hello Thomas," she said cheerfully, "Wasn't today just as a beautiful day?"

"It sure was," Thomas answered, "it was also quite a busy day today, I can see why I was asked to come back to work here. You know earlier today, I was talking with Courtney and Li and they were saying that you and Rin have been living together for a long time, back to when you were kids."

"Well it's true Thomas, Rin and I have been living together for a long time. Rin moved in with my father and me after his parents and my mother were..." she paused and wiped a small tear from her right eye, "killed in a car accident."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Kaede took in a deep breath and wiped away another tear before continuing, "Rin and I have friends a lot longer than that. We met when we were only four years old, ever since we've been good friends."

"I see...well, it was nice of you and your father to take Rin in after what happened."

"Yes it was, but I wasn't nice to him."

"Well what do you mean?"

"I was horrid to him when we were kids," she answered. Thomas gasped, for as long as he's known his Tokyo friends, he had never known Kaede Fuyou to be mean to anyone, "it all started right after the funeral..."

During the funeral, Kaede had passed out and was rushed to the hospital, for almost a day, she didn't say a word and didn't move. Rin wanted to help her, so he decided to do the one thing he's never done to Kaede before, lie to her.

"Hey Kaede, listen there's something I need to tell you...it's my fault that they're gone. I was scared, so I called my parents so that I could hear their voices again, I'm so sorry Kaede, I hope you can forgive me."

Rin had, of course, made that whole story up, but Kaede believed every word of it and finally snapped back to her senses, but with an angry stare on her face.

"I won't forgive you, it's all your fault that my mother is gone," she said angerily.

Wisely, Rin backed off, "I'm sorry," was all he said and walked out of the room.

Her father and the doctors were quite pleased to see that Kaede had recovered, but for a long time after that, Kaede and Rin hardly ever said a word to each other. Rin didn't want Kaede to ever find out the truth, so he hid a postcard that her mother had sent to her and pretended like it never existed.

For many years afterwords, Kaede would ignore Rin, never talking to him and never hanging out with him. For example: whenever they left for school, once they were out of sight of Kaede's father, Kaede would walk far ahead of Rin, leaving him far behind. On rainy days, she would take Rin's umbrella and would either lose it or take it with her.

Words were also said, either short or long, the words that Kaede said were never sweet, "I hate you Rin," were some of the words she ever said to him.

"At least she's talking," Rin thought to himself.

It was actually because Kaede had left Rin alone that he had met Sia and Nerine or Lycoris when they came to visit the city years before. He would of course tell them about his friendship with Kaede, "well I'm glad you're trying to help you," said young Sia, "but why do you let her yell at you like that? Why don't you just tell her father?"

"She's my friend, I would never, ever abandon any of my friends, despite what they say to me. I can take it, just for them."

"Oh that's so sweet. She is a lucky person to have you as a friend."

Years later, Kaede did learn that Rin had lied to her. It was a cold autumn's evening, Rin was at the library getting some books, Kaede was back at the house, finishing up her homework. When she had finished, she walked over to Rin's room and picked the model of the boat he was working on, then...she dropped it.

"I hate you," she muttered and turned to walk out of the room, but before she did, she spotted something on the floor underneath the wreckage, "What's this?" she picked it up and gasped, "it's a postcard from my mom."

She read the message, "Dear Kaede, I hope you're feeling better, we'll be coming home earlier than we had thought. Hope you and Rin are okay, we'll see you when we get home. Love your mommy, Momiji Fuyou."

There was a moment of silence after Kaede had read the postcard, during that time she had remembered that while her mother and Rin's parents were away, she had been feeling under the weather and stuck in bed. It was then she realised that it wasn't Rin's fault, no...it was _her_ fault.

Just then, Rin came into his room, he saw Kaede with the postcard, "don't read that!" he shouted and grabbed it out of Kaede's hands.

"Too late Rin, I already read it," she said. She looked up to Rin with a sad look on her face, "why did you lie to me? Why did you do it?"

There was no way Rin could lie his way of this situation, so he took in a deep breath and confessed everything, "I did that because I didn't want you to hurt yourself. I didn't want you to blame yourself for what happened that night. So that's why I told you it was my fault, I know it was wrong and I'm so sorry Kaede."

"No, I'm the one who should be saying sorry for everything I have said and done to you," she said sadly, "I told you over and over again that I hate you and I would ignore you. Why would you want to be my friend after all that?"

"It's because I care about you Kaede and because you are my best friend, even after all that happened between us as kids, I still consider you a friend, no matter what."

"Thank you Rin," and for the first time in years, Kaede showed Rin a smile while tears started coming down from her eyes.

Rin walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her, giving a hug, "I'm sorry for lying Kaede."

"It's okay Rin and I'm sorry for everything I've said and done to you," she sobbed, "I'll make it to you, I promise..."

"...And I did, I took up cooking lessons and did everything I could just to make it up to him," Kaede concluded.

After listening to her story, Thomas was just at a loss of words. At last, he found his voice, "Rin seems like a true kind hearted friend and you're lucky to have a friend like him."

"Yes I guess you could say that," Kaede nodded in agreement, but then her happy expression changed, "but that's all we're ever going to be, just friends and you know what...I don't mind at all."

"You don't?"

"That's right, from the start, Rin and I have known that we were meant to be friends and friends alone, but I know he cares about me, just like he cares about Rimu, Rina and Sia. As for Asa, I know he loves her and I don't mind at all. Now if you'll excuse me Thomas, I got to go meet up with Rin, I'll see you later," and with that, Kaede turned on her heel and walked off to the crossroads, leaving Thomas, still at a loss of words.

_**Rin's Confession**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Kaede found Rin waiting in the city's biggest park and just staring at the water fountain, "remember when we were younger and we used to come to this park all the time and play?" Rin asked.

"Yep, I remember," Kaede nodded, "we used to come all the time, before the accident."

"Yeah," the two teenagers went silent for a while, then after that moment of silence, Rin spoke up, "Kaede, I want you to know this, I really do appreciate all you have done for me, you've been a good friend to me all these years and for that, I want to thank you..." he paused, taking in a deep breath before continuing, "and I'm sorry if I'm going to be hurting you again, but I just have to tell you this..."

"I know, you're in love with Asa Shigure," the two teenagers were silent for almost a minute. Kaede spoke up after a while, "and it's okay with me, as long as you're happy, then I'm happy," she said this with a serious happy tone in her voice, she meant every word.

"Thanks Kaede, but you know I still have feelings for you, although they are not romantic feelings, I still care about you."

"And I still care about you Rin," she turned towards Rin and wrapped her arms around him, "despite everything I did, you still stayed by my side. Thomas was right, I am lucky to have a good friend like you. Do Sia and Nerine about your decision?"

"Yes, I told them earlier today and they're okay with my decision," he answered.

After a while, Rin headed off back to the Fuyou house while Kaede went off to the Little Tokyo Railroad to see Thomas, "so I guess you had your little talk with Rin am I right?" Thomas asked, Kaede nodded her head, "oh Kaede I'm so sorry, I mean I know how much you like Rin."

"It's okay Thomas, I've always known that Rin's had feelings for Asa, even when we first met her back in Junior High."

Thomas was surprised to see Kaede all cheerful, "aren't you a little bit sad that you and Rin won't become a couple."

"Maybe a little, but as long as Rin is happy, then I'm happy."

Thomas just smiled at his friend, "you are an amazing girl Kaede, you took Rin in when he needed a home, you cooked and cleaned for him, you've done a lot for him, yet I would like to know...why?"

"It's because I love him, like I love all my friends, especially you Thomas."

Thomas blushed the very moment Kaede said that. He was about to blush into a brighter shade of red, cause at that moment, Kaede climbed onto Thomas' buffer beams and gave him a kiss on the left side of his face.

"C...cinders and ashes," gasped Thomas, thankfully there was no one else in the shed to see this, not yet anyways.

"I love you Thomas," said Kaede.

"Ah..." Thomas was stunned for a moment, even to when Laura was backed into the shed, but he soon his voice again and spoke quietly to Kaede, "Well I love you too Kaede, even though I'm a steam engine and you're a human, I can still love you." Then Thomas asked Kaede to move to the middle of his buffer beam. He didn't need to say anything, Kaede knew excatly what Thomas wanted her to do.

She got down onto her knees and waited. Then very gently, Thomas gave Kaede a kiss on the top of her head. Thomas' crew and Laura could see this, but they didn't say a single word.

"I know you'll find your true love someday Kaede," Thomas said kindly.

"I know that Thomas, till then, I'll just keep living my life to the fullest, doing what I do best, caring for my friends."

"She is a wonderful person," Thomas thought to himself, "I'm sure she'll find her true love someday."

Just then, the Man in the Suit came to the sheds, "hello Ms. Kaede, what brings you here?" he asked kindly.

"Oh, I was just talking to Thomas," she answered, and Thomas was quick to agree.

"Very well then," the Man in the Suit then walked over to speak with Laura, "I have just gotten a call from your owners Laura and I'm sad to say that they can't afford to keep you anymore."

"What?" Laura exclaimed, "well...what will happen to me now?"

"Before I answer that question Laura, I want to ask you, do you like working on this railroad?"

"Yes sir."

The Man in the Suit smiled, "in that case, I'm happy to say that from now on, you will be working here on the Little Tokyo Railroad as our sixth engine and the third with knuckle couplings. What do you say to that?"

"Oh sir, that would be wonderful," smiled Laura, "I couldn't imagine being anywhere else," and she sighed in relief. The Man in the Suit smiled and turned back to his office. Kaede said good night to her friends and headed off back to her house.

Two nights later, Rin called Asa, "hey Asa, listen there's something I need to talk about, it's really important. Can you meet me at the park?"

"Sure Rin, I'll meet you at the park...just don't be late," she giggled on the other end of the phone before hanging up.

Rin went over to the doorway to get his shoes on. As he was doing this, Kaede came walking up to him, "are you going to tell Asa how you feel tonight?" she asked.

"Yep, I'm going to tell her how I feel, so I might be a little late getting home okay?"

"Okay Rin, I'll see you later."

Rin nodded, then once his shoes were on, he headed out to meet up with Asa. "Are you okay with this?" a young voice asked from down the hallway. Kaede turned and saw it was Primula, "I know you really like Rin."

"Yes, but I'm okay with Rin's decision," Kaede answered while showing her smile to Primula, "if he's happy, then I'm happy. Now why don't we get back to those cooking lessons?" And so, the girls walked off back to the kitchen.

Asa was waiting by the balcony for Rin to arrive. The balcony overlooks the entire city park and sees some parts of the city, which included the Little Tokyo Railroad, and in the other direction, behind Asa, is a small forest of trees. After waiting for a few minutes, Rin arrived, "about time Rin, you're late."

"Well I told you I'd meet you here, I didn't say when I would arrive," he chuckled, but then spoke in a serious way, "I'm glad you came. There's several things I need to tell you..." Rin started things off by telling Asa the whole story of his and Kaede's childhood.

"I see," she said after a while, "I knew something had happened between you two, but I never imagined it would be anything like that. Still, it must've been hard to listen to Kaede saying all that to you."

"It was, but I stayed because I didn't want her to hurt herself over what happened and plus she was still my friend. You know me..."

"Yeah I do, you never turn your back on other people, that's something I've learned about you since I first met back in Junior High. I learned a lot about both you and Kaede in Junior High. You want to know something Rin, I've always envied Kaede."

"You have?" Rin asked.

"Yep, I've always envied her. She was working so hard every single day, never giving up, but I didn't know why, so one day I just asked her, 'hey Kaede, can I ask you, why do you want to learn how to cook?' "

"And she answered, 'when I was younger, I hurt someone that means a lot to me, so I'm learning how to cook so I can repay him back for what I've done'. I knew then that she was talking about you, but I didn't know what happened, at least till tonight. I know it's none of my business..."

"No it's okay Asa, you have every right to know."

The two teenagers were silent, that was until Rin spoke up, "there's something else important I want to say to you, that's why I asked to meet me out here. Before I tell you, I want to know, do you like me Asa?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I like you, you're a good friend," she turned away, mostly because she didn't want Rin to see her blush, but Rin saw her blush.

"Why I do believe you're blushing," Rin chuckled.

"No I'm not blushing, it's just the weather, despite being November," she said in protest, but she couldn't hide her blush from Rin.

Rin just chuckled, then he walked up to Asa with a serious happy look on his face, "Asa Shigure, I love you and I want you to be my girlfriend."

Asa was just speechless, she couldn't believe that she heard those words come out of Rin's mouth. Soon though, her voice returned, "do you remember when I told you about what happened between my mother and me when I was a kid?"

"I remember," Rin nodded.

"Then you know how much I care about her. Rin, will you promise to love me as much as I love my mother?"

"I promise."

"Well that was quick," Asa giggled, her blush went a bright red, "now I'm definetly blushing. Well Rin, here's my answer..." she got up on her toes, her lips came closer and closer to Rin's until they connected as they kissed while the sun setted for another day. Rin wrapped his arms around Asa, holding her close to him. It was obvious to see that Asa Shigure and Rin Tsuchimi were now officially a couple.

_**The End!**_


	24. Adventurous Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 24**_

_**Adventurous Engines**_

_**Based on the Original (2010) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_There's a never moment on either the Little Tokyo Railroad or the Amusement Park Railway. Our new diesel friend on the LTR had a bit of a problem with a rival that both Courtney and Li have dealt with, Michelle gets a burning feeling during one of her runs, there's also a near miss in the city and a showdown with two engines and two troublemakers, but I won't reveal who started it, you'll just have to read to find out._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Third Time's Not the Charm

-Michelle's Fire

-Too Close for Comfort

-The Thorn of the Flower

_**Third Time's Not the Charm**_

"I am grateful that the Man in the Suit didn't send me away after getting the news from my owners," Laura was saying one night in the sheds, "otherwise, I would've been scrapped like all the other U50's."

"You'll probably miss your previous owners alot won't you?" Big Mac asked kindly.

"Yes, I'll miss them alot, they were like family to me. Still, I'm glad to be here and part of this Little Tokyo Family."

At that moment, Shamus puffed into the sheds, grumbling loudly, "uh oh, here we go again," said Li, "I wonder what Shamus is going to complain about now."

"That stupid piece of rubbish, it should be on the scrap heap," Shamus grumbled as he slowed to a stop.

"Shamus, what in the name of stars and stripes are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about a stupid lorry that went dashing in front of me just as I was getting to the district. Stupid thing, I nearly hit it's trailer, which by the way looked like it already had a few dents."

Li and Courtney looked to each and groaned, they knew who Shamus was talking about, "it's Van," they both said in unison.

"Who?" Laura and Big Mac asked in one voice.

"Van is a selfish, self absorbed lorry," Courtney answered, "Li and I have had our dealings with him in the past."

"And on both occassions, we dealt with that silly truc...ah, lorry," Li corrected himself, "sorry, I'm still getting used to the lingo. Anyways, on both occassions we had our own run ins with him. Courtney banged into his trailer when he was foolishly parked on the railway tracks."

"Yikes," gasped Laura, "I'm surprised you didn't break the trailer."

"Not at the speed I was going," said Courtney, "but Li did. Remember when Sakura the Terror Queen stole him from the police impound lot?"

"An engine would never forget something like that," Li groaned, remembering his ordeal with Van and Sakura, "I smashed that trailer of his to pieces. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm agreeing with Shamus."

"And why is that so hard to say?" Shamus asked while snickering.

"Don't answer that," said Shamus' Driver as he climbed down from the cab. "Anyways, that stupid lorry really gave us a scare earlier."

"Hold on a second," Thomas piped up, "I thought he was locked up in the impound lot following Li's incident, so why is he out?"

"He was sold off in an auction a few days ago," said a voice at the door. It was Sia, along with Nerine, they had come by to see the engines, "my dad had dragged me to that auction, and I saw someone buy Van and drive him out of there."

"Obviously the new owner doesn't know how to drive him," said Li.

"Indeed not," Nerine said firmly, "I saw that lorry earlier today, he was driving on the sidewalk, I was lucky to get out of the way."

"I see third time's not the charm," Li looked and saw that Shamus was going to say something, "I mean his new Driver is just as bad as his last two drivers, so be on your guard everyone, either on the roads or the crossings."

"Let's just hope too," added Luke, "that none of us engines has a run in with him again."

Every one of the engines agreed, except for Shamus, who just snorted and said that he would never have an accident at the crossings.

The following next morning, Laura's Driver arrived early for work, "sorry to distrub your sleep Laura, but we need to take an empty goods train to the district and bring back a loaded train."

Still yawning, Laura rolled out of the sheds and over to the goods yard. She collected her trucks and rolled out onto the main line. Along the way, she saw that there weren't many cars or lorries out on the roads.

"I wonder what that lorry looks like," Laura yawned again.

Just then, she heard her own horn blasting loud and long, "wha..." she began, suddenly without warning, she saw the reason why her driver was blasting the horn. She saw a lorry with a flatbed dawdling across the level crossing, "Move! Move!" Laura shouted.

But the lorry didn't speed up, luckily though it moved off the crossing just in time. Laura missed it by inches.

"Stupid thing," shouted the Driver angerily. "You alright Laura?"

"Yeah, although that was just as scary as the runaway," she said with a shaky voice.

Throughout the rest of the journey, Laura had no more troubles with road traffic, but she was still shaky by the time they reached the warehouse district.

Laura wasn't the only one who had a close call with Van. Mayumi was on her way to school when she saw Van running down the wrong side of the road, then bumped right onto the sidewalk and headed straight for her.

"Hey watch it!" she cried. She jumped out of the way and just in the nick of time too. Van missed her with inches to spare.

"Stay out of my way!" cried the Driver as he drove Van back onto the road, even Van was laughing over what just happened.

"He has the nerve to say 'Stay out of my way'?" Mayumi said angerily, "he's the one breaking the law. I'm surprised that baka lorry was allowed out again." And still grumbling, Mayumi turned and walked off for school.

Van rolled on down the road until he reached his destination. His new Driver helped to load the crates onto the flatbed, then once everything had been tied down, Van headed off to his next destination.

At this time, Laura was backing down onto her trucks, all ready to go to the docks.

"Have a safe journey Laura and be careful," advised Ken.

"I will," she replied back just as her Driver coupled her up to the train. Once back in the cab, he moved the lever, blasted the horn and Laura roared away from the Warehouse district.

By this time, traffic was starting to pick up as more and more people were heading off to work.

There was no trouble at first, but that was soon to change as Laura reached the very crossing of her near miss earlier that morning. Despite the crossing lights going off and the barriers going down, traffic was still moving.

"They'll stop when the gates go down," said the Driver.

But he was wrong. A screeching sound could heard, Laura looked to the direction of the screeching sound and saw Van going around the crossing gates and trying to reach the other side of the crossing, then...horrors! She saw Van slow to a stop, right on the crossing. Traffic was backed up and there was no way that Van could move out of the way.

"Stop! Stop!" Laura cried.

Her Driver slammed on the brakes in a bid to slow the train down. Van heard the brakes and looked, "oh no, not again. Oh for Crying out loud, not again!"

Third time was definetly not the charm. Laura smashed into the back end of Van's trailer, pushing him forwards and into the stopped cars. Somehow, Laura managed to stay on the rails and rolled on for a few miles before finally stopping. Her Driver looked back to survey the damage, "oh boy, what a mess," he exclaimed, "I better call for emergency services."

He got out his mobile phone and called for help. It arrived minutes later, the paramedics checked to see if anyone was hurt, luckily everyone was okay, with only a few cuts and bruises here and there. The police were there too, they wanted to speak with Van's Driver, "you do know it's aganist the law to go round crossing gates when they're going down?"

"Sorry, but we had a delivery to make," replied the Driver.

One of the other officers was checking the damaged cargo, he gasped at what he saw, "ah you might want to come over and see what these two have been carrying."

The officer walked over to one of the damaged crates, when he saw what was in there, he shook his head angerily and walked up to the Driver, "You're under arrest and your lorry is going to the impound lot."

"Oh no, not again!" Van groaned.

Laura in the meanwhile had continued on towards the dockyards where her Driver passed on the message about the accident. All day long, Laura was worried of what the Man in the Suit would say to her.

She found out later that night, "it's not your fault Laura, you tried your best to stop. Besides it was that Driver's fault for going over the crossing when he wasn't suppose to. The police are now speaking with him for the accident, his reckless actions over the last few days and not forgetting the illegal cargo he was carrying."

"I don't think you'll need to worry about them for a while," said Li, "and hopefully the police won't auction Van off again."

"Hopefully," Laura said, "and you were right Li, third time's definetly not the charm."

**Author's Note:**

Laura's accident was based on the real life event at a level crossing on the Illinois Central railway when a Tractor Trailer ran over the railway crossing when the gates were going down. The Trailer was stopped right on the crossing due to traffic being backed up, the front diesel smashed into the trailer, pushing the truck into several cars, luckily everyone was okay and the diesels had somehow managed to stay on the tracks after bashing into the trailer.

_**Michelle's Fire**_

The first year of operations on the Park Railway were drawing to a close, the Amusement Park was due to close up for the winter and would not open again until April the next year.

"So what are we going to do during the winter?" Michelle asked her Driver one chilly morning.

"Rest," he answered simply, "that's all you engines will need to do until the park is ready to be opened up again, plus it'll give the workmen a chance to do inspections on you and make repairs if needed."

"Speaking of repairs, I wonder how Kayio is doing," said Karen, "it's been a while since we last saw her."

"Don't worry about Kayio, she's doing just fine," said a familar voice. The three engines and their crews looked to see the Park Controller standing outside of their shed, "the workers at the District are almost done with all the repair work, but she won't be coming back before we close up for the winter. Anyways, we're going to have a busy day today, from what I've been told, there are lots of people waiting out by the front gate. Michelle, I would like you to go collect them first, then Karen and Gary will follow with their trains."

"Yes sir," said the two miniature steam engines in unison while Gary winked.

Once her fire was burning nicely, Michelle puffed over to the coach yards, then once she was coupled up to them, she set off for the gates.

There were indeed lots of people waiting by the front gates, two of which were Asa and Rin on another date. Michelle carefully backed her coaches into the siding and stopped within inches of the bumper post.

Darren was also nearby, since Gary had been asked to pull passenger trains, Darren has been asked to take supplies to areas in the park.

"Careful you don't break apart like your little friend did," he snickered.

Michelle took no notice of Darren's rude remarks, she just waited patiently till the passengers were all on board. Rin was the last to get on, "cutting it close Rin," Asa teased, "You waited any longer and this train would've left without you."

"Well if it did, I would run along after it," he chuckled.

"Oh you," Asa giggled and slapped him on the back just for fun.

With the passengers on board, the guard blew his whistle and Michelle puffed slowly away from the gate with her train.

Throughout the run, Michelle's Driver checked on the steam gauge, "everything seems to be in order girl," he smiled, "and I don't see any steam leaks anywhere, so I don't think we'll need to make an emergency stop again."

"That's good," smiled Michelle, she did not like letting the Park Railway and the Park Controller down.

Like always, Michelle puffed smoothly down the tracks and stopped carefully at each stop so that the visitors could get off. At each stop, she waited patiently till they got off, then pulled away once the guard had blown the whistle.

"Thank you for the ride," the young children called to Michelle, she responded back with a cheerful blast on her whistle.

Going around the first bend though, they ran into a little bit of trouble. As the last coach rounded the bend, the last wheel set rolled off the tracks, "Stop! Stop!" cried the passengers.

Michelle's Driver heard and looked back, "oh no," he groaned, applying the brakes gently, "one of our coaches just came off the rails."

The train was brought to a stop, then the Driver walked up to the last coach, "is everybody okay?" he asked, everyone nodded. The Driver checked the wheel set and groaned, "this coach is faulty, we'll have to take it off the train."

Luckily, they had stopped near a gaming area of the park, so the passengers didn't mind being left behind, "I can probably win more stuffed animals," Asa chuckled.

"Get any more and your room is going to be overflowing with them," chuckled Rin.

Asa just giggled and ran on ahead without Rin, he ran right after her while Michelle shunted the faulty coach off the train.

"It probably needs some repair on one of the wheel sets," the Driver explained to Michelle, "I'm not enterily sure. So remind me when we see the workmen that there's a coach that needs repairing."

"Sure thing, I'll remind you," said Michelle.

Due to this little 'unexpected' delay, Michelle had to wait in the siding until Karen had passed by with her passenger train. Couple of minutes later, Karen rattled by with her coaches, then once she was out of sight, Michelle puffed on her way.

Michelle did her best, but she was still running behind schedule.

"Can't let the railway down! Can't let the Park Controller down," she puffed to herself, "Can't let them down!" And she didn't, through her determination, she soon made up for lost time and overtook Karen at one of the stops.

"Well done girl, that's the way to make up for lost time," called her Driver.

Michelle's first journey was soon complete and all the visitors on board her train thanked her for the ride. On the second journey though, trouble was due to come again for Michelle.

As she passed the engine sheds and yard, she began to feel a little warm just above her first set of cylinders.

"I wonder what's going on there," she thought to herself, "oh I hope it has nothing to do with my cylinders, the last thing our line needs is another engine out of service."

Rounding the third bend on the line, the warm feeling began to get hotter and hotter.

"I think something might be wrong," Michelle called to her Driver.

"What seems to be the problem girl?"

"I'm feeling a little warm above my first set of cylinders," she answered, "I don't know why."

The Driver looked and gasped, "ah Michelle, there is something wrong, but it's not like what happened to Kayio. No, I hate to tell you this, but...you're on fire!"

The Driver was right, there was a small fire underneath the boiler and just above the cylinders, smoke began to pour out making Michelle pant, "it's hot, it's hot!" she groaned.

The Driver knew they had to stop and was about to apply the brakes when he noticed that they were getting closer to the front gate, "we can't stop here," he said, "it's too risky with all those people, we'll have to go on ahead and stop somewhere safe."

So, instead of applying the brakes, the Driver opened the regulator even more and raced past the gate, much to the surprise of the waiting visitors, the passengers on her train and even the Park Controller.

"Michelle! Where are you going?" he called, "you're suppose to slow down and back up!"

"Michelle is on fire, we're getting her away from people!" the Driver called back.

They went a short distance before finally stopping. The passengers in the front coaches got out and stood a good short distance away from the Challenger. The Driver climbed out and surveyed the fire, "I don't even know how that happened," he said.

"Please put it out," cried Michelle, "it's too hot!"

"Hang on a second, I'll put it out." All the miniature engines on the Park Railway have fire extinguishers with special foam that is designed to handle oil fires. The Driver aimed the extinguisher and pushed down on the handle, within seconds, the foam sprayed out and hit the fire hard. It took a while, but at last, the fire was put out.

The Park Controller ran up to Michelle, "is everyone alright?" he asked, everyone said they were.

"This just isn't my day," groaned Michelle, "first the coach and now this."

"Well we all have bad days Michelle," The Park Controller said kindly to her, "I'm just glad that you're okay and so are the passengers. Now I must ask, do you think you can continue with your work?"

"Yes sir, I can, I feel much better now."

"Very well then, but if anymore problems come up, tell your Driver and I'll have you towed back to your shed," with that said, the Park Controller went back to the gates to speak with the crowd.

Luckily, Michelle had no further troubles that day. No more derailments or fires, the runs were as smooth as ever.

That night in the sheds, workmen checked to make sure everything was okay, luckily there was no damage to Michelle or the coach at all, but the workmen agreed to at least look Michelle over during the winter to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

**Author's Note:**

The Derailed Coach incident is based on the incident on Day One of the Rocky Mountain Steam Power Special Train in 1988 when a wheel set of the rear coach came off the tracks, luckily no one had been hurt. The coach was rerailed and taken back to the yards. Michelle's fire incident was based on an unbelievable real life event that happened to Union Pacific 3985 in 1999 when the challenger had a fire just above her first set of Cylinders, the crew drove the engine away from the town and stopped it on a lonely part of the line, then the crew put the fire out themselves. No damage was caused to 3985.

_**Too Close for Comfort**_

Most of the Little Tokyo Railway runs alongside busy city streets with only a fence seperating road from rail. In the business district of the city, the railroad runs right through the busy city streets, this is an engine's worst nightmare. It is here where cars and lorries and even sometimes people running to get to the other side of the tracks, will run in front of the trains, scaring the engines badly.

One evening, Big Mac was heading off back to the dockyards with a fully loaded goods train. He had just started away from the warehouse district when he and his Driver noticed someone on a bicycle riding towards the tracks and not slowing down.

"Stop!" cried Big Mac, "don't cross the tracks!"

But the person didn't take any notice of Big Mac, instead he just rode on over the tracks and over to the other side. Big Mac's Driver blew the whistle loud and long and shouted at the person, but once again, they took no notice and rode on ahead without stopping.

"Well that was stupid," grumbled the Driver, "they'll wait a long period of time at a traffic light, but they won't wait for us. Impatience is only going to lead to trouble."

Big Mac silently agreed with his Driver.

When he got back to the sheds after delivering the goods train to the docks, he told the other engines, Nerine and Kaede, who were visiting at the time, of what happened.

"You're not the only to have had problems like that Big Mac," said Thomas, "I had at least two to three lorries dash in front of me, it's almost like they can't see us at all."

"Oh they can see us," said Li, "my guess is that these people don't know they're suppose to stay a good distance away from us when we're moving."

"Either that or they're in too much of a hurry to think safely," said Big Mac.

"I think we can all agree that we all have those problems," Courtney spoke up, joining in on the conversation, "but it's worse for both Luke and Laura."

"Courtney is right," added Nerine, "You diesels don't make as much noise as steam engines do, so the risks are higher for you."

"Hmm, good point," said Luke.

"You know what I think," said Thomas, "they should put in a fence in between the road and the railway."

"A railway in the states has done something like that, according to what Ken and I heard from Santa Fe 3751 on a raitour," said Li. "Seriously though, it's not a real good idea to do that."

"People wouldn't be able to get from one side of the street to the other," added Kaede.

"Kaede's right," agreed Courtney, "and since we can't have a fence seperating the roads from the railway, all we can do is to keep a good look out for these bakas..." she paused as she eyed Shamus, "and that includes you too Shamus...watch out for them!"

Shamus only grunted in reply.

The following next morning, Thomas arrived at the docks to collect some loaded vans and take them down to the Warehouse District. When he arrived, Rick the Crane was just unloading the last of the cargo off the ship.

"Morning Rick!" Thomas called, "enjoying the weather up there?"

Rick snarled and looked down at Thomas, "I was already asked that stupid question by that American Tank Engine, I don't need to hear it from you. The sooner we get you loaded up, the sooner you'll be away from me."

"Well aren't you just Mister Sunshine today," Thomas chuckled, but not too loudly for Rick to hear.

It wasn't long before the last of the crates were loaded into the vans. The last door banged and Thomas pulled the trucks to the yards. Before reaching the main line, Thomas had to stop in a siding to wait until Li came in with his train.

"Good morning Thomas," said a friendly voice from close by. Thomas looked and saw Kaede standing close by.

"Good morning Kaede, I'm glad to see somebody in a cheerful mood today..." he looked back to the docks and over to Rick. Then he turned his attention back to Kaede, "so what brings you by to the Little Tokyo Railroad on this Saturday morning? And where's Primula and Rin?"

"Rimu is hanging out with Sia this morning and Rin's with Asa, I came down here to see how you're doing," she answered with a sad look on her face. Thomas could tell she was feeling lonely and wanted to cheer her up.

"Can Kaede ride with us to the Warehouse District?" Thomas asked his crew.

"I don't see why not," his Driver answered, "she's more than welcome to join us on the trip. But it's up to her if she would like to come with us."

"Would you like to come with us Kaede," Thomas asked her. Kaede didn't answer his question with words, but with a big smile on her face. At last though, she nodded and walked over to the cab, just as Li came into view with his empty goods train.

"Remember, keep an eye out on the way Thomas," Li advised.

"I will," Thomas called.

Thomas, his crew and Kaede waited until the last truck of Li's train had run over the points, then once the points had been changed to his line, Thomas headed off towards the district.

There was no trouble on the way to the district, that was until they reached the busy city streets. Thomas puffed along slowly, looking from left to right, then from out of nowhere, a car came driving up beside Thomas.

It was driving so close that Thomas thought his siderods would scrape the paint off the door or worse. His Driver blew the whistle loud and long, "Move away! Move Away!" Thomas shouted.

Thankfully, the Driver of the car heard Thomas' whistle and warning and drove away.

"Stupid driver," the fireman grumbled crossly, "any closer and we could've damaged the side of the car."

They had no more 'car troubles' on the way to the district and Thomas wasted no time in shunting his loaded trucks into a siding and shunt his empty trucks ready to go back to the yards. All the while, Kaede stood nearby watching Thomas shunt and even had a friendly chat with Ken.

After a great deal of shunting, Thomas was all ready to go. Kaede climbed back into the cab, the guard blew his whistle and Thomas puffed slowly out of the district.

"Take care out there Thomas," Ken called, "and remember to keep a good look out, especially for hitch hikers!" Obviously remembering the time where Li had a hitch hiker on the tracks.

"I will!" Thomas called with a cheerful blast of his whistle.

Just beyond the shops, a man was waiting with a video camera. He had come all the way from England for a vacation with his family and had heard that the famous 'Thomas the Tank Engine' was in the City of Tokyo. Now he was waiting patiently for Thomas to pass, but he was standing too close to one of the lines.

His patience soon payed off as Thomas came into view, he got out his camera, turned it on and started filming Thomas with his goods train. But he was so focused on filming Thomas and his train that he didn't notice that Luke was coming from the other direction.

Thomas, his crew and Kaede saw Luke coming and shouted, "Look Out! Look Out!"

It was no use, the man just could not hear them. He was too busy taking films. Just as the brake van came into view, Luke came out of nowhere and roared by, missing the man by mere inches.

"Watch it!" shouted Luke's Driver to the man.

"Nerine was right, people really can't hear me coming as well as a steam engine."

The man was in shock of what happened...he felt relieved, but he also felt foolish for standing too close to the tracks. He shut off his camera and walked away without saying a word.

Luke was still shaking over what happened when he returned to the sheds that evening and told the other engines.

"We heard about it from Thomas and Kaede," said Li, "that man was lucky to escape with inches to spare, but what he did was dangerous and stupid, he should've known that another train would come by."

"Indeed it was," agreed Luke, "now if I had been a deltic diesel, maybe the man would've heard me coming."

"I doubt it," said Thomas, "he was so focused on filming me with my train that he wouldn't have moved, even if you were a deltic diesel. I only hope he's learned a lesson from this."

The man did learn a lesson from the close call. He still takes pictures and films of the trains, but nowadays, he does this a short distance away from the tracks, just to be on the safe side.

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by two real life events. Big Mac's encounter with the bicycle was based on a shocking video where a person on a Bicycle dashed over the crossing, despite the warnings of the BC Rail Freight train. The close call encounter was based on the event where a man was filming a steam railtour train and didn't hear an oncoming commuter train, the train actually missed the man with inches to spare.

_**The Thorn of the Flower**_

A couple of days after the near miss incident, Thomas was in the yards shunting some trucks carefully into a siding when he spotted his friends, Drew, Rin, Asa and Kaede walking over towards him, all of them had the look of concern on their faces.

"Hello my friends," Thomas said cheerfully as he came to a stop, "what's the matter?"

"We have something terrible to tell you Thomas," said Asa, "do you remember Sakura the Terror Queen? Well, Rin and I were walking past the police station and we saw her walking out."

"What?" Thomas and his crew exclaimed in unison.

"It's true," said Rin, "we saw a young girl walk into the police station and less than a minute later, we saw her walking away with Sakura, laughing as they went."

"You need to be careful Thomas," advised Kaede, "with Sakura out of jail, she's gonna want to get revenage on all of us, including you, remember you were the reason she was thrown in jail the first time."

"I haven't forgotten, but I think she knows better than to pick a fight with engines."

"No kidding," said Li as he backed into the yards with a goods train, "remember _I_ was the engine that smacked into Van's trailer when she and Van blocked the level crossing. Surely that accident must've put a good scare into her."

"Maybe, but who knows for sure," said Drew, "just keep an eye out for her."

"And be careful," added Kaede, she was worried about her engine friends.

Meanwhile, in a different part of the city, Sakura and Rachel, the girl that had gotten her out of jail, were laughing and talking, "so cousin, what have you been doing since the last time we met?"

"Well let's see, I started up a group called the 'England Terrors', and we live up to our name too. Whatever we want, we get it. Anyone stands in our way, they soon regret their decision if you catch my meaning."

"Hmm, sounds like my Tokyo Terror group before we went to jail."

"Well it's funny you should say that Sakura, cause the 'England Terrors' were inspired by you and your Tokyo Terrors. We want to be just like you lot, living by our own rules."

"Well I'm honored by this, but I suggest you don't go up aganist any of the engines, cause then your group will go down like mine did."

"Actually the engines are the reason why I came here cousin," Rachel said with a sly grin, "I want to help you get some payback on those who took your group down, including the Little Tokyo and Sudrian Railway Engines, that's why I snuck aboard the same ship that blue puffball was going on and that's why I'm here."

"I like your determination Rachel, but unless you have a plan to deal with those engines, then we can't get our payback."

"Oh I have a plan alright, but it involves one of those Little Tokyo Engines, one who likes to live by his own rules, just like us."

Sakura wasn't enterily sure about this, but seeing the determination in Rachel's eyes, she was willing to at least try the plan out.

A little later, Shamus was shunting in the yards, biffing and bashing the trucks roughly into the sidings, "ow! Ow! OW!" the trucks groaned, "What did we ever do to you?"

"Just shut up you pieces of scrap," Shamus snarled and continued to bump the trucks until they were shunted into place.

After he was done shunting, his crew took him to a siding out of the way, then the Driver climbed down from the cab and headed off to get lunch for him and the fireman.

Shamus grumbled as he waited. As he waited, he noticed two figures hiding behind a couple of barrels, "hey you two, what are you doing there?"

The two girls stepped away from the barrels, "we're here to get a little payback on the blue engine that sent me to Jail," said Sakura, "he's gonna pay for what he did."

"But the only way to get back at him is with another engine," added Rachel with her sly grin.

"I'll help you get back at him, it's probably more exciting than shunting these rusty buckets on wheels." The trucks were hurt by the insults.

Both girls walked up to Shamus' cab, only to discover the fireman blocking their path, "I don't think so," he said firmly, "I know about you Sakura and I'm not going to..."

But he never finished what he said, because Rachel punched him out and pushed him out of the cab and onto the platform.

"Told you if anyone stands in my way, then they'll soon regret it," Rachel snickered, "now come on cousin, let's go."

Shamus' Driver had just returned with his and the fireman's lunches when he saw Shamus moving away, "Shamus! Where are you going!" he shouted. He ran to the platform and saw the fireman groaning a bit. The Driver dropped the food and tried to catch up to Shamus' cab, but he was too late, Shamus picked up speed and was soon heading out onto the main line.

"Dart," groaned the Driver, then he turned back to help the fireman.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Shamus asked.

"Of course we do," said Rachel, "I know all there is to know about trains...helps when you live on Sodor, now let's go find that puffball."

Just down the tracks, Thomas was puffing back to the yards with some empty trucks. Kaede was riding along in his cab along with the crew. As they puffed along, they heard the Driver's mobile phone go off. He answered it, then after a few moments, he slowed Thomas down.

"What's going on?" Thomas asked, "why are you slowing me down?"

"I just got word from the yards that two individuals have stolen Shamus and is now travelling down our tracks. We'll never make it to the next siding before we see him, so we'll have to back up and try to get into the previous siding."

"Who would want to steal a whole engine?" The crew, Kaede and Thomas gasped in horror, "Sakura!" they all said in unison. "She's definetly up to no good again."

Just then they heard a shrill whistle and in the distance, coming straight at them, was Shamus.

Reacting quickly, Thomas' Driver opened the reserver, Thomas' spun furiously backwards, but by the time Thomas could move again, Shamus was now getting closer to him. Soon Shamus had bumped into Thomas' buffers and started pushing him along. The sudden jerk made Thomas' Driver and fireman fall out of the cab, but not Kaede, she just fell to her knees.

"Alright Shamus, let's knock him off the rails!" called Sakura.

"With great pleasure," Shamus snickered.

"Shamus you idiot," Thomas scolded, "don't you know that's Sakura in your cab? The Dangerous troublemaking girl?"

"Oh I know who she is and I'm willing to help her and her friend."

"Friend?" Thomas raised an eyebrow when he heard this. He looked to Shamus' cab and saw who Shamus was talking about, "Rachel, I should've known you were behind this."

Kaede got back to her feet and gasped in shock when she saw that they were moving, but without a Driver and fireman.

"Kaede, is that you?"

"Yes Thomas, it's me. I'm still in your cab," she called back.

"Good. Kaede, I want you to open my regulator, this will give me a chance to push back. Trucks, I need you lot to hold back, slip your brakes on! With our combined strength, we might overpower Shamus and stop!"

"Foolish engine, your plan won't work," called Sakura, "we have the stronger engine here and he will push you off the rails."

Despite hearing this, the trucks and Kaede followed Thomas' instructions. Kaede opened the regulator and held on as hard as she could, allowing Thomas to push back. As for the trucks, they slipped their brakes on and held on as hard as they could. With the truck's brakes on, Kaede on the regulator and Thomas pushing with all his might, the train started to slow down until they came to a stop.

Thomas' wheels continued to turn and so did Shamus', Sakura and Rachel just would not give up.

"Blow my Whistle Kaede! Call for the police!" Thomas called. Kaede reached over to the whistle chain and pulled down hard on it, three short peeps, followed by three long peeps and three short peeps to follow after that.

"Oh no, not again," groaned Sakura, "I'm not going back to jail, you're on your own!"

"Wait Sakura!" Despite Rachel pleading for her to stop, Sakura just jumped out of the cab and ran off. Moments later, Thomas' crew finally reached the cab, the fireman was able to restrain Rachel while the Driver applied the brakes. Kaede then applied Thomas' brakes and his wheels finally stopped moving - the silence was amazing.

The police soon arrived and arrested Rachel, "you're under arrest for stealing public property and endangering lives," said one of the officers.

Rachel snarled under her breath as the officers took her away, sadly they couldn't find Sakura, she had disappeared.

Thomas was out of puff and so was Shamus, so Big Mac had to come take the two engines back to the yards. The Man in the Suit scolded Shamus and sent him to the shed to think about what he did. Then he thanked the trucks and Kaede for their help, "thanks to you, there was no accident and no one got hurt."

He then turned to Thomas, his buffer beams were dented, his brakes were damaged and the steel tires on his wheels were worn out.

"I'll send you to the Warehouse District to be repaired," said the Man in the Suit, "they'll repair you in no time. I'll have to phone your controller and inform of this and maybe ask for another engine to work in your place until you're ready to work again."

With that said, he walked away back to his office to call the Fat Controller, leaving Thomas alone with Kaede. "Thank you Kaede," Thomas whispered, "if it hadn't been for you, we would've gotten into a serious predicament. You're a very brave girl. You're my hero."

"You're welcome Thomas," Kaede smiled, "I'm always glad to help a friend in need."

She then climbed onto the dented buffer beams and gave Thomas a hug, then a small kiss. She then moved over to the middle part of the buffer beam and got down on her knees, then Thomas kissed her on the top of her head, just as Luke arrived.

Once coupled up, Luke took Thomas to the district. "You're my hero too Thomas," Kaede said quietly and watched as Thomas and Luke left before heading off happily for home.

_**The End!**_


	25. Percy's Little Tokyo Adventures

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 25**_

_**Percy's Little Tokyo Adventures**_

_**Based on the Original (2010) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_As recalled in 'Adventurous Engines', Thomas had been damaged following a showdown with Sakura, Shamus and a troublesome girl from Sodor named Rachel. So while Thomas was away in the workshops of the Warehouse District, Percy was brought in to help with the workloads. When I heard that Percy had been brought back to Tokyo for a second visit, I went to hear about his visit, but I was most surprised to hear about an adventure that happened to one of the other Little Tokyo Engines. I added that story in cause it was just too good to pass up, I just hope Percy won't be too mad with me for giving another engine a story in this book. Anyways, here's what happened when Percy was brought back to the Little Tokyo Railroad._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Blessing in Disguise

-A Pinchy Surprise

-Shiori the Fire Fighting Truck

-The Shigure Family Secrets

_**Blessing in Disguise**_

While Thomas was in the workshop, Big Mac took care of all his trains. He worked very hard and despite being late a couple of times, he got the jobs done with no complaining from anyone. The only complaining he heard was from Shamus when he got back to the sheds.

"Locked up in the shed again," he grumbled, "the Man in the Suit can't treat me like this."

"He has good reasons for leaving you in the shed," Li said firmly, "after all, you were helping those two trouble-making girls to damage Thomas, so you deserve to be locked up."

"Pah!" scoffed Shamus.

Before he could say anymore, the Man in the Suit walked up to the shed, "well I just got off the phone with Sir Topham Hatt and he's agreed to send another one of his engines to work here until Thomas is repaired."

"Did he say which engine is coming Sir?" Li asked.

"No he did not, he said we'll soon find out when he gets here. Anyways, until that engine arrives, I want you five engines to help out with the workloads."

"Yes sir," said five of the six engines in unison.

"Will I be working Sir?" Shamus asked.

The Man in the Suit stared angerily at Shamus, "No Shamus, you will not working until I can trust you again. I know it was Sakura and her cousin from Sodor that started the attack on Thomas, but you went along with them and agreed to work with them. So until then, you are staying in the sheds. When you do come out," he continued, "you will be shunting in the yards for a week."

"Oh drat," he muttered under his breath.

Luckily the Man in the Suit hadn't heard Shamus' mutter as he walked away back to his office to take care of some paperwork.

Over the next few days up to the Sodor engine's arrival, the Little Tokyo Engines worked like clockwork getting every job done and to perfect timing. And over those few days, there were no mishaps or accidents...that was until the night the Sodor engine was to arrive.

Big Mac was at the docks with several vans ready to be loaded. Tonight, he didn't have that many vans behind him. Rick noticed this and couldn't help but laugh, "what's the matter old timer? Getting too old to pull trains?" he called down to the old engine.

"How dare you speak like that to Big Mac!" Courtney snapped. She was dropping off a loaded goods train, "whatever happened to 'respect your elders'?"

Big Mac spoke next, "the reason I don't have that many vans behind me is because I'm having a bit of a steaming problem due to a steam leak. I've been asked to take it easy by the Man in the Suit, the last thing he needs is another engine out of service."

"Doesn't really make a difference to me, you engines are a waste of everyone's time. Lorries and cars are better."

"Oh yeah?" Courtney called back, "there are lots of people who would beg to differ Rick."

Rick just ignored Courtney and went back to work in loading Big Mac's vans. "Once a grump, always a grump," Courtney groaned, "you ever dealt with someone like Rick before?"

"Quite a few times on my old railway," Big Mac answered, "and they've said worse things than Rick..."

"Oh shut up down there!" Rick snapped again, "The sooner I get the last of these crates off the ship, the sooner you can be away and I can have my piece and quiet."

It wasn't long before Rick had lowered the last of the crates and they had been loaded into Big Mac's vans, "now get lost!" Rick shouted.

"I'll leave as soon as my guard has finished checking the train," Big Mac called to Rick. Rick just grumbled while the guard did his job. When he was done, the guard climbed on board Marigold the Brake Van and blew his whistle. Big Mac responded with a blow of his whistle and puffed slowly away.

The journey to the Warehouse District was a good one, Big Mac had a good head of steam and ran nicely all the way to the district.

When he arrived, he got turned around and moved to the front of the train. While Masuko unloaded his trucks, Big Mac talked with both Thomas and Kayio.

"My repairs are almost done," Kayio was saying, "the workmen just need to do some more work on me and then I can go home."

"I was actually just saying to Kayio that I wish I could see her railroad," said Thomas, "but I know there are no tracks that go there."

"Yet," Big Mac piped up, "the new extension will allow some engines to travel along to the Park Railway, so one day we might get to see the Park Railway."

"I guess so...and I have to know, is the Fat Controller going to send another engine to work in my place?"

"Yes, but the Man in the Suit didn't say which engine is coming..."

Just then, a worker came up to Big Mac's front end, "Masuko has just finished unloading your vans, you can go back to the yards."

With that confirmed, Big Mac pulled away, whistling a good bye to Thomas and Kayio. The journey back to the yards was good, but halfway along the line, Big Mac started losing steam. He started puffing slower and slower.

"We'll be okay if we can just make it to the next siding," said the Driver, but they never made it. Big Mac struggled on, but soon he crawled to a stop...right on the level crossing and blocking the path of cars and lorries.

"Sorry," gasped Big Mac.

One of the Drivers was honking their horn loudly, "please move your train!" he shouted, "we're in a hurry here!"

"Sorry but we can't move!" called Big Mac's fireman, "Big Mac doesn't have enough steam, so you'll just have to wait till then..." just then, they heard a loud scream coming from the same vehicle.

"We can't wait, I need to take my wife to the hospital!"

"Pleeeeaaassseeee Mooovvvve!" cried a woman.

The moment Big Mac's Driver heard that cry, he quickly grabbed his bag from under his seat, jumped down from the cab and ran over to the van. He spoke to the couple, then walked over to the woman's side of the van.

"What is he doing?" the fireman asked.

"I think I know," said Big Mac.

After a few minutes, they heard a young cry...it was a baby! The Driver handed the young baby to the mother, who just smiled and stared at her child, "Thank you so much," she said with a smile on her face.

"You're welcome," smiled the Driver, "I was glad to help."

Before he walked away, he called for an ambulance. They thanked him again as he turned and walked back to his engine. "Well that was different," said the fireman, "it's not everyday an engine Driver helps a couple with a safe delivery of a child."

The Driver chuckled, "actually, I _have_ done this before."

"What?" the fireman asked in surprise.

"Well it happened just a few years after I retired from being a paramedic and became an engine driver. My engine had failed, blocking the crossing and I helped another couple with a safe delivery of their child."

The fireman was just speechless, that was until he looked at the steam gauge, "Big Mac's got enough steam now, let's try to make up for lost time."

With a blow of the whistle, the Driver opened the regulator once again and Big Mac puffed slowly away, just as the ambulance arrived to take the mother to the hospital.

Later that evening, the engines were all talking with the Sodor engine that had arrived, which was Percy. As they talked, Big Mac noticed a man walking up to their sheds, along with the Man in the Suit. Right away, Big Mac knew who the man was.

"Hello," Big Mac said kindly to the man, "how's your wife doing?"

"She's resting in the hospital right now, along with our newborn son. As strange as it might sound," the man chuckled, "we're actually quite glad you stopped on the crossing, we wouldn't have gotten to the hospital on time. You and your Driver were a blessing in disguise."

"You can say that again," Li whispered quietly with a chuckle.

"Have you pick a name for your son?"

"As a matter of fact, we have. We've named our son; Cory, after the Driver who helped us with the safe delivery of our child."

"Well thank you," said the Driver, who felt honored indeed. "I was just glad to have helped, even though our stop wasn't really planned."

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by the real life event where a police officer pulled over a couple for speeding, but soon found out that the woman in the van was having a baby. Luckily for the couple, the officer was also a trained paramedic, so he helped the woman make a safe delivery just before the ambulance arrived. Later on, the officer said that wasn't the first time he helped someone make a safe delivery.

_**A Pinchy Surprise**_

Following his arrival in the City of Tokyo, Percy the Small Engine got to meet all the new arrivals that had come since his first visit to Tokyo. He got along quite well with almost everyone, except for Shamus.

"The Man in the Suit is wasting everyone's time by bringing in this little powder puff," he sniffed rudely early one morning.

"It's not a waste if it means helping us with our work," Courtney said firmly to him, "we're still running to perfect timing thanks to Percy."

"Especially since you're out of the way," snickered Li.

Shamus was about to snap back at Li, but before he could say anything, the Man in the Suit had arrived to speak with the engines. He gave the other engines, except Shamus, their jobs, then he spoke to Percy, "I would like you to take some passengers to the Transfer Point, and I would also like you to take some crates full of lobsters there too. You can take Layla, Nadoka and Ayumi - make sure you give them a comfortable and smooth ride."

"Yes sir," said Percy, but he was nervous.

Most of the passenger trains on the Little Tokyo Railroad run to the Transfer Point Station where the LTR exchanges goods and passengers over to the High Speed Japanese Railway where the High Speed diesels often take the goods and passengers to other locations in Japan.

Percy puffed over to the coach yards where he found Layla, Nadoka and Ayumi all waiting for him.

Once coupled on, Percy puffed over to the platform of the Big Station where all the passengers and the crates were waiting. He waited patiently, but was still worried, "what's the matter Percy?" a familar voice asked.

Percy looked to the direction of the voice and found Sia standing close by, "you look nervous."

"Well that's because I am," Percy responded, "it's been three years since I pulled passengers and..." he paused and looked back to the platform.

Sia looked too and saw the workmen loading Nadoka the tail end coach with huge crates, all full of lobsters.

"I'm taking crates full of lobsters and I don't know if they'll stay in their crates..." he grunted at that moment, "after all, James and Daisy have had that happen to them before."

"Daisy's incident was caused by carelessness and James' incident was just an accident," said his Driver, "you got nothing to worry about, the workers here know what they're doing, so there won't be any escapees from those crates."

"I hope you're right," Percy muttered and started talking to Sia to check up for lost time.

Meanwhile on the other end of the platform, a porter was loading the crates into Nadoka. All was going well, that was until he got to the last crate. This crate was full - too full for it's own good. The lobsters were cross, one snapped it's claws angerily.

"Yikes!" gasped the porter.

He thought the lobster's claw had pinched him somehow. As a result, he dropped the crate on the platform and it smashed into pieces.

"What was that?" Percy asked.

Sia and most of the other passengers looked to the direction of the crash and gasped, "need you ask? There are more than a dozen lobsters on the platform, running loose."

"You were saying?" Percy asked his Driver firmly.

"I stand corrected," said the Driver.

The Lobsters started crawling away from the wreckage, they wanted to strecth their legs.

"We can't just leave those little creatures roam loose on the platform," said Sia, "they could get hurt."

"Agreed," said Percy's fireman, he looked around and spotted several crates near the ticket office, "alright, you get those crates," he told the Driver, "Sia and I will try to get as many as we can."

Without wasting a second, the Driver and a few of the passengers went to get the crates while Sia, the fireman and the other passengers all helped in gathering the lobsters. Gathering them all was difficult, some of them were bent on escaping and so some of them fell between the train and platform. Others slipped into the main station building when someone had opened the door.

"I wonder if Daisy had this much trouble with the eels," Percy thought to himself.

Then he heard a whistle in the distance, followed by a clanging noise from the points. "Oh no it's Courtney!" Percy gasped, "if she doesn't stop..."

"Say no more Percy, I'm on it!" said the Driver and quickly ran to warn Courtney and her crew.

He was able to warn Courtney and her crew and the big Japanese engine was stopped just a feet away from the station.

Moments later, the Man in the Suit arrived, he wanted to find out why Percy was still at the platform and why Courtney hadn't come in yet. When he got onto the platform, he soon got his answers.

"Sorry sir," called the porter, "I thought one of the lobsters pinched me and I dropped the crate by accident."

"It's alright," said the Man in the Suit, quickly joining in, "what's important now is we get these lobsters back into the crates and get the trains running again."

Just then, they heard a loud shrill scream. Sia looked over to that direction and saw a woman standing on a bench in pure panic. Reason being was because a lobster had latched itself right onto one of her suitcases.

"It's okay lady, calm down," Sia said soothingly.

While Sia did all she could to calm the woman down, Percy's fireman walked over to the suitcase and grabbed the lobster, "got it!" he cheered and ran over to one of the open crates and placed the lobster inside.

After a while, all but one of the crates had been loaded into Nadoka, "I think that's all of them," sighed the Driver.

"OW!" cried Percy from the front of the train.

"Something tells me we didn't get them all," sighed Sia and ran up to the front. When she got up there, she found the last lobster with it's claw pinching Percy's nose.

"Don't laugh," Percy groaned.

Sia didn't laugh, it wasn't who she was. Besides, it didn't seem right to do so.

She grabbed the last lobster and after a short struggle, she finally got it off Percy's nose and placed it inside the last crate, "_now_ that's all of them," she said. She then turned back to Percy, "are you alright Percy?"

"Yeah I'm fine," he answered, "my nose just hurts a little."

"At least it's not red like James' nose after he got stung," chuckled the Driver, but quickly stopped when he saw Percy, Sia and the fireman looking at him with firm looks.

The Porter walked up to Percy, "all the lobsters are now loaded into Nadoka, I'm so sorry about this Percy, I just got scared."

"It's alright," Percy groaned.

With all the lobsters safely in their crates, the passengers boarded the coaches, the guard blew his whistle and Percy puffed away without another word.

The High Speed diesels were waiting impatiently for Percy, but when he arrived and the story was told of the lobsters, they didn't blame the lateness on Percy...instead they blamed the lobsters.

"Silly things," muttered the lead diesel as they started on their way.

There were no incidents that day, but Percy hardly said a word about the incident. The story however had spread to the sheds by the time Percy returned later that evening.

"It's funny when you think about it," snickered Shamus, "the little powder puff was held up by silly lobsters."

"Oh shut up baka," snapped Courtney, "it could've happened to anyone. At least Percy didn't brake the crates himself."

"Oh come on, you must admit that this 'pinchy surprise' is..." but Shamus didn't finish what he was saying as the other engines, except for Percy, glared firmly at him.

At that moment, Sia arrived, she wanted to see how Percy was doing, "how's does your nose feel?" she asked kindly.

"It's okay," Percy sniffed, "it doesn't sting much anymore."

"Oh well, despite your incident, you were able to make up for lost time after that," Luke piped up, "And that's what counts."

"Maybe so," Percy sighed, "still it's like I was saying to Sia earlier today, animals can cause trouble, no matter what they are and today, those lobsters did just that."

**Author's Note:**

The lobster incident on the platform was based on a real life event where a porter had dropped a crate full of lobsters and they had scattered themselves everywhere. A poor woman on a bench was in a huge panic when she saw a lobster climb onto her suitcase and latch itself onto it.

_**Shiori the Fire Fighting Truck**_

Word soon reached the shed a couple of days that the repairs on Thomas were nearly complete and he would soon be returning to work, "from what Ken said to me," Li said as he backed into the sheds, "Thomas should be coming back to work in about a week."

"That is good news," smiled Asa as she was visiting the sheds, but then she started to look worried, "but does that mean that you'll be going back to Sodor when Thomas returns?"

"Not at all," Percy answered, "the Man in the Suit told me that once Thomas comes back, I'll be helping with the construction work on the new line going into the city or taking goods to the Transfer Point line."

"That's a relief," she sighed.

"Speaking of that city line," Luke piped up, "it makes me wonder who will be running that line, it wouldn't be safe for any of us to work there."

Before anyone could say anything else, they heard a little cough, which sounded like it was getting worse. They all looked to the direction of the coughing sound and saw Asa coughing and trying to catch her breath. Percy's Driver and fireman jumped down from the cab and ran over towards Asa, "are you okay Ms. Shigure?" the Driver asked kindly and patted her back softly.

After a moment or so, Asa finally stopped coughing and took in a few deep breaths before finally answering, "yes...I'm okay," she said, "there's nothing to worry about...I'm okay...I should be going anyways...see you later..."

She got to her feet and and walked away from the engine sheds, "That's not the first time we've seen her cough like that," said Courtney.

"Indeed," agreed Luke, "I've seen her walking along one second, then the next she is coughing alot and gasping for air."

"I hope Asa is okay," Percy said quietly to himself. This started to worry him.

The following next morning, Percy was sent to the dockyards with some trucks to collect some crates. As he pulled up, he saw Rick the Crane unloading the ship, "ah no, it's the Green Goblin again."

"Yes it's the 'Green Goblin' again," Percy retorted, "although I prefer going by the name 'Percy'."

"Do you think I care what your name is? No! I don't care a bit!" And with that, Rick went back to work in unloading the ship.

"Hmm, I wonder if Rick would get along with Cranky," Percy said out loud.

"Who's Cranky?" asked a voice from behind him. Sitting behind Percy was a wooden black coal truck, originally coming from the Other Railway.

She, along with her brothers and sisters used to run on the Other Railway until they were replaced by modern trucks and were sent to be dismentaled, but luckily, this truck and seven of her sisters and brothers were left in a siding and completely forgotten about. That was until the Man in the Suit's visit to Luke's yard, he not only bought Luke, but he bought the eight trucks. Seven of the eight were troublesome, but they were so relieved to be spared from scrap that they gave up their troublesome ways and became good.

The truck behind Percy was the only one who had been kind during her Other Railway days and was still nice to this day.

"Well, Cranky is a crane that works at one of Sodor's busiest dockyards," Percy answered the truck's question, "he's a lot like Rick, although Cranky lives up to his name," Percy chuckled, "since they're so alike, maybe they should call Rick 'Cranky II'."

"Oh shut your trap!" snapped Rick.

"That's enough Percy," said his Driver, "don't get Rick angry...you've seen what happens when you upset a big crane like that, remember when Cranky dropped that crate on you when he first came?"

Percy did remember, all too well.

So he quickly changed the subject, "What is your name?" he asked the truck.

"My name is...oh right I forgot, I don't have a name," she answered, "alot of us trucks don't have names, some coaches do but not us."

Percy felt sorry for the poor truck, he believed that even trucks deserved names like the coaches and the engines. He wanted to say something to cheer up the truck, but Percy's Driver had opened the regulator and Percy puffed off to collect Marigold the Brake Van. After collecting her, he took her to the train.

"Hey Marigold, do you think trucks deserve to have a name too?" he asked her.

"Yes I do think so, but usually management doesn't agree that trucks deserve names, I think it's because there's so many of them that look alike that they wouldn't be able to tell them apart, but like I said, I believe that trucks deserve names like the brake vans, several coaches and even engines too. Why do you ask Percy?"

"Oh I was just wondering, that's all," he said as he shunted Marigold to the back of the train.

After buffering Marigold up to the last truck, he asked her, "How did you get your name?"

Marigold looked thoughtful, but before Percy could get his answer, his Driver had opened the reserver and Percy puffed away to the front of the train, "I'll tell you later Percy!" Marigold called to him.

Percy was soon moved onto the front of the train and was coupled up, at around the same time a worker shouted, "your trucks are all loaded, you can go now!" The guard blew the whistle and Percy puffed slowly away from the dockyards.

At a corner of the crossroads that lead to the Little Tokyo's big station is a buffet resturant that serves food from all over the world in one location, this is a favourite location of the railway personal and the people that live in the city because of the wide variety of food there is to choose from.

This resturant has been at the crossroads for ten years and has had a perfect safety record, that was until today...

A new employee was working in the kitchen and rushing to get all the food prepared for another day's opening, but he wasn't being careful as he rushed about. The resturant owner came in to see how he was doing, "maybe you should slow it down a bit," he said kindly.

"I don't think so, we can't please the costumers if we're slow," said the employee and went back to work.

"Just be careful younster," the owner as he turned and walked out of the kitchen.

The employee grumbled under his breath, "I don't like it when he calls me youngster." He picked up some of the food and went out to the resturant, but because he was angry and he was rushing, he had failed to notice that he left the stove on, nor had he noticed he left pots and pans on it. The moment he finally remembered, it was too late.

He ran back into the kitchen, only to discover a huge fire coming from the stove, "oh my gosh!" he exclaimed. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and aimed it at the flames, but there was a problem, it was broken and wouldn't shoot anything out. "Oh no!"

The flames were starting to build and try as he might, he couldn't put the flames out, so he ran out to warn the other employees and phone the fire department using his mobile phone.

At that moment, Percy was at the station waiting for the 'all-clear' signal. As he waited, he could see smoke coming his way. His Driver saw it too and looked to the source of the smoke, "fire and smoke!" he cried, "the buffet resturant's on fire!"

"What?!" exclaimed the fireman.

He ran to where the Driver was and looked, sure enough he could see a fire building up inside the resturant. Seconds later, they saw the employees and the manager running out of the resturant. After catching their breath, one of the other employees spoke to the new one, "oh sure, rushing won't hurt," she said angerily.

The new employee groaned and apologized, "it's alright," said the owner, "we're all out here safe and sound, that's what counts."

"But what about the resturant?" asked another employee, "if that fire isn't stopped, it'll not only burn down our workplace, but it could burn down the other buildings close by."

"I don't think you'll need to worry about that," said a third employee, "cause here comes the fire department!"

Sure enough, coming straight towards the resturant was the fire department with two fire engines. They both stopped in front of the burning resturant, then the firemen climbed down and went to work, but there was a problem...

"Our pump is broken!" shouted one of the firemen, "we can't use our fire engine!"

The firemen of the second fire engine were able to set their equipment up and aimed the fire hose at the fire, but nothing came out, "oh for crying out loud," groaned another fireman, "we're out of water again!"

"No wonder," said the fire cheif, "our tank has a leak in it!"

"Talk about bad luck," groaned the resturant owner, "now what are we going to do? We can't let this building burn or let the fire spread."

"What's going on?" the truck behind Percy asked. Percy told her and the other trucks that the local resturant was on fire, "oh dear, that's not good, if only we could...wait a minute...Sand!" she exclaimed.

"Sand?" Percy asked confused.

"Yes, sand can help put out the fire. We're carrying sand in the crates and we have plenty of it, it might work."

"Well anything's worth a try," said the Driver. The fireman ran to the Man in the Suit's office to inform him of what they were going to do while the Driver moved Percy and his goods train into a nearby siding just beyond the station. Once in the siding, the Driver blew the whistle to get the attention of the firemen. "We've got plenty of sand in our trucks, you can use it to help put out the flames!"

The firemen wasted no time, they took out some of the crates of sand and threw them into the fires. The fight with the fire was tough at first, but soon the flames started to go out. Some of the firemen went inside the resturant carrying shovels and buckets full of sand. Finally a half hour of fighting the fire later, the flames were out, but the damage was done.

The inside of the building had been burned and so were most of the equipment inside the kitchen.

"I'm sorry sir," groaned the young employee, "I didn't mean to cause this fire."

"It's alright young man, it could happen to anyone. Just remember to be more careful next time you're working in a kitchen and keep an eye on your stove."

"Yes sir, I promise you that I will be more careful."

With the fire out, Percy set out on his way with what was left of the crates of sand. Naturally the workers at the Warehouse District were wondering what happened to the sand, that was until they were told of what happened at the resturant.

The Man in the Suit was waiting at the station when they arrived, "that was very clever to use the sand to help put the fire out. Who came up with that idea?"

"That was me sir," said the truck that was now at the back of Percy's train, "I came up with the idea."

"Well you are a clever truck, well done. Now I've heard that you've been wanting a name..."

"How does he know that?" Percy asked his crew, but they didn't answer, they catch winked at each other.

"So as a reward, I shall not only give you a new coat of paint, but I will also give you a name..." he paused impressively, "how about Shiori? Would you like that?"

"Oh yes please sir," smiled 'Shiori' the truck, "I would love to have that name."

"Very well then," then the Man in the Suit turned to Percy, "shunt Shiori into a seperate siding, Big Mac will take her to the Warehouse District later," with that said, the Man in the Suit turned on his heel and walked off back to his office.

_**The Shigure Family Secrets**_

For anyone who knows Asa Shigure, they will tell you that she is a funny, kind and caring person, but even they don't know everything about Asa, her past or her own mother.

Later on in the evening after the fire, Big Mac took 'Shiori' off to the Warehouse District while Percy brought Nadoka, Ayumi and Layla to the station to pick up passengers. As he waited, he could feel cold wind blow into his face.

"Brr," he shivered, "that's cold."

"There's no doubt that December is on it's way," said a cheerful voice coming from the platform. Percy looked and saw Asa standing there, "you can just feel it in the air."

"Indeed," agreed Percy while shivering a bit, "I'm sure glad I have a fire to keep me warm. So what brings you by Asa?"

"Need you ask Percy?" she giggled, "I came here to see you before going to see Rin, we're going out on another date to..." Asa stopped talking as she started coughing and gasping for breath.

Percy's Driver and fireman ran out of the cab and ran over towards Asa. By the time they got to her, she finally stopped coughing and started breathing again, "are you sure you're okay Ms. Shigure?" Percy's Driver asked.

"Oh yeah I'm fine," she panted, "I just had a tickle in my throat again, nothing to worry yourselves about..."

She paused and looked down to her watch, "I on the other hand have plenty to worry about, I'm already late to meet up with Rin. I hate to give him the chance to say 'You're late Asa', I'll see you all later!" With that said, she turned on her heel and ran away from the station.

Percy raised an eyebrow, "I don't think Asa is telling the truth about her coughing," he said.

"Well you never know Percy," said the fireman, "usually at this time of year, people do catch colds and get sick, perhaps Asa is devolping a cold or something..."

At that moment, they heard the guard's whistle blow from the other end of the train.

"Come on Percy, let's get started already!" shouted Ayumi, "I don't want to sit here in the station doing nothing! I did enough of that after being retired from service."

Nadoka and Layla just rolled their eyes and sighed.

Percy's crew returned to the cab, blew the whistle and after the Driver opened the regulator, Percy puffed slowly out of the station, thinking about Asa as he went.

"I don't think it has anything to do with a cold at all," he thought to himself as he puffed along, "from what Thomas said after he got back from his third trip, Asa passed out one evening and was to stay in bed for a while and now she's coughing every now and then. I think there is something Asa is not telling anyone."

"Are you okay Percy?" Layla asked, "you've been quiet ever since we left the station."

"Huh?" Percy snapped out of his thoughts, "ah...yeah I'm okay," he answered back, "I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"Daydreaming no doubt," snickered Ayumi, but was quickly hushed by the other two coaches and quickly subsided into silence.

Percy continued on with his job, but would think about Asa every now and then, he was concerned about her, "maybe she told Rin," he thought to himself as he neared the Transfer Point station, "I should ask him when I see him."

Later on that evening, Percy was returning to the big station near the crossroads with a loaded passenger train and as luck would have it, Rin was standing on the platform.

As the passengers got off the train, Percy told Rin about Asa's coughing earlier, "that's the third time this week that she's been coughing like that," he said, "I wonder what could be going on with her. If only she would tell me...ah us," he quickly corrected himself.

"So do I," Percy sighed quietly.

"I can tell you everything," said a voice from nearby, which nearly made Rin jump in surprise. He and Percy looked to see Ms. Ama, Asa's mother, standing close by, "before I tell you both, I have to ask...Rin, do you love my daughter."

"Of course I do," he answered with a nod.

Ms. Ama then turned her attention to Percy, "and Percy, you're worried about Asa aren't you?"

"Of course I am, I would worry if any of my friends wasn't feeling well," he answered.

"And lastly, do you two know about the artifical lifeform project?" Rin knew alot about the project, considering that Primula is an artifical lifeform, so he said 'yes' and Percy said 'yes' too, although he learned about it from Thomas, "good, then this should be easy."

Ms. Ama removed the hat off her head, revealing two long ears on both sides of her head, "I wasn't expecting this," Percy gasped.

"Neither was I," gasped Rin.

"Not many people know this, but I'm actually from the realm of the demons, I'm the first artifical lifeform. I'm sure the kings have told you that the experiment was a failure and the first subject was nowhere to be seen after the explosion in the labs. Many believed that I was blown away with the lab, but that is wrong cause I was actually blasted to Earth, battered and hurt...and just for the record, this happened long before the portals came."

"Anyways, I was discovered by a young man, he helped me to his car and he took care of me until I felt better. By that time I had fallen in love with him and after a while, we got married and had a little miricle come into our lives...Asa. It was a happy moment, but then sometime after that, Asa started feeling sick."

"When did she start feeling sick?" Percy asked curiously.

"It started right after she was born," Ms. Ama sighing unhappily and looked down to the platform.

"It turned out that Asa has some of my powers within her and for a long time, they made her too weak to go to school or go anywhere...as I'm sure she's told you Rin."

"Yes she has told me that," he answered, remembering what Asa told him about her childhood.

"Sometime after she turned eight years old, she started feeling better, so instead of hiring a tutor to teach her everything, I signed her up for elementary school and allowed her to do what she wanted to do, but..." Ms. Ama sighed unhappily, "I always kept a close eye on her just to be on the safe side and now I'm afraid that her powers are starting to get too strong for her to contain..."

"So what does that mean?" Percy asked curiously.

"Well Percy, she has to unleash those powers, when she does, they will leave her once and for all, but if she doesn't, then she'll..." Ms. Ama couldn't finish. She cried a bit and wiped a tear away from her right eye, "sorry to worry you two, but it's all true. Now if you'll excuse me, I better be going," and with that, Ms. Ama turned and headed off to the Shigure house, leaving Rin and Percy speechless.

After all the passengers had climbed out of the coaches, Percy took Nadoka, Layla and Ayumi back to the coach yards and puffed off back to the sheds just as Big Mac left to take a goods train. As he arrived, Percy spotted a familar green haired girl standing at the doorway.

"Hello Percy," said Asa, "I heard you and Rin were talking to my mom."

"Yes we were, we were just concerned about you that's all. She also told us how you can save yourself Asa, all you have to do is to unleash your powers and all your problems will disappear."

"Maybe...but I won't do it."

"What? Why?" Percy was confused by Asa's decision.

"I made a promise years ago that I would never use my powers. After my mom told me of all of her secrets, I swore that I would never use my powers, I don't want to hurt anyone or my mother again...like I did when I was younger. I'm sorry Percy, but will I use my powers? The answer is no!"

And with that, Asa turned and left, leaving Percy and Rin, who was standing outside the sheds, worrying about her.

_**The End!**_


	26. Thomas, Percy & the Little Tokyo Friends

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 26**_

_**Thomas, Percy and the Little Tokyo Friends**_

_**Based on the Original 'Thomas, Percy and the Helpful Engines' (2010 Volume) by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_I was orginally going to write about the Little Tokyo Engines working before and after the snow came to Tokyo, but Thomas and Percy insisted that I write up a book involving what their 'little Tokyo Friends' have been going through most recently. "I guess I could do that, what should I write about?" I asked them. "Well there's when Asa saved a life and saved herself in the process," Percy said, "then there's Nerine helping with that troublesome Snowplough." "There's also the Runaway incident and Primula becoming a railway employee for one day," Thomas added. There was also one other story I heard about both Thomas and our friend Kaede, but I can't reveal anything, you'll just have to read the stories to find out what happened._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Asa Saves a Life

-Sia and the Runaway Diesel

-Kaede Loves...

-Nerine, Courtney and the Snowplough

-Primula the Young Railway Worker

_**Asa Saves a Life**_

_**Based on the Story in "Shuffle! Days of the Bloom"**_

A couple days later, Thomas returned to the yards looking and running as good as new. Along with Thomas was Shiori the truck, painted in a coat of dark green paint and with her name painted on both sides of her. The other trucks all gave Shiori a great welcome back and told her how splendid she looked. The engines and their friends gave Thomas a great welcome back too, except for Shamus, who had _finally_ been allowed to go back to work.

"Thank you my friends," Thomas smiled, "it feels good to be back..." he paused and looked over to Percy, "is something wrong Percy? You haven't said much since I came back from the District."

Percy broke his vow of silence and told Thomas of why he had been quiet. He told him everything Ms. Ama had said to him and Rin.

"So that's why she runs short of breath," Thomas said afterwords, "but doesn't she know how much this is worrying you, Ms. Ama and Rin?"

"Oh she knows," Percy answered, "But she doesn't want to use her powers because she doesn't want to hurt anyone, like she did when she was a little girl."

Percy didn't need to say anything, Thomas already knew who Asa had hurt, remembering what he heard from Kaede, who heard about it from Rin. Speaking of the black haired boy, he was walking into the sheds. He said hello to Thomas, then he turned his attention back to Percy.

"Asa's been taken to the hospital," he said with a sad look on his face, "she collapsed earlier today at her house. Last time I saw her, she was looking pale. If only she would use her powers," he sighed unhappily, "I don't want to lose her, I love her...alot..."

Rin did his best to hold back his tears, but that was impossible to do as they poured from his eyes. He quickly turned and walked out of the sheds. No sooner had he left then Shamus spoke up in his usual way, "crying, it's stupid if you ask me. I don't know why anyone cries."

"Well no one was asking you Shamus," Li snapped back, "besides, crying isn't stupid. It's perfectly normal for someone to cry when they're upset about something or someone."

Shamus just snorted and went quiet for the rest of the night.

Rin tried again and again to convince Asa to use her powers, he even begged in a pleading way, but it was no good, all Asa ever said was, "I am sorry Rin, but I will not use my powers. I will not break my promise and I will not hurt anyone else, not again."

As the days passed, Asa's condition got worse and worse and soon, she was having trouble getting out of bed, this worried Rin and Percy to no end...their worries were soon to go down the drain though...

It was a cold December evening and Asa was walking away from the hospital, she wanted to visit a one special place and she was going to get there, sick or not. The journey there was difficult for Asa as she didn't have alot of strength, she often collapsed and coughed for a bit, but she picked herself up and continued walking.

"I will get there, I will get there," she panted to herself.

One of the nurses at the hospital had discovered that Asa had walked out and called Rin to ask if he's seen her, "no I haven't, I thought she was there," he responded back.

After the phone call, he ran out looking for Asa, but finding one girl in a huge city would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

He went to the Little Railroad and found Percy shunting some trucks for a late night run. He asked Percy and his crew if they had seen Asa, "I haven't seen Asa for days," Percy answered, "What about you two?" he asked his crew.

"Nope, we haven't seen her for quite a while either," said the Driver while the fireman shook his head.

"Well thanks anyways..." Rin paused as a thought came into his head, "I think I might know where she is," before Percy could ask of where Asa might be, Rin had turned and run off.

Asa had finally arrived at the 'special' place she wanted to go to, it was the very park where Rin had told her his feelings. She smiled as she looked out at the beautiful view, but shivered when the wind blew aganist her, "I wish I had brought my jacket," she groaned.

Just then, she noticed someone giving her their jacket, "I don't want you to catch a cold," said a familar voice from behind her.

Asa turned and saw that the person was none other than her boyfriend, Rin Tsuchimi. "Hey Rin, how did you know where I was?"

"Oh I just had a feeling," he smiled, "after all, this is the place where I told you my feelings..." his smile faded into a frown, "Asa, I know you're probably tired of hearing me say this, but I am begging, please use powers. I don't want to lose you."

"Well I don't want to lose you either...but," she sighed turning back to look over the entire city, "I won't use my powers. If I use them, I won't be human anymore. I'm sorry, but again the answer is..."

Suddenly she was cut off by the loud sound of metal crunching metal, the noise was deafening, "what was that?" both teens asked in unison. They ran to see had happened, what they saw made them gasp in horror.

A driver, who had been drinking, turned the wrong way and smashed into another car. Somehow, the 'drinking' driver had escaped the wreckage with only a few bumps. The other driver and his wife were okay, just a few cuts here and there, but their son was badly injuried.

"Help!" the mother cried, "someone please help my son!"

"Your son is fine," the 'drinking' driver said, it was clear he was oblivions to the entire situation.

Rin turned to Asa, "You have to use to use your powers Asa," he said, "you can use them to save that little boy."

"But I can't," Asa said in protest, "I've made a promise to never use my powers and I refuse to..."

Rin was so mad by Asa's stubborn attitude that he slapped the poor girl on the right side of her face, "I swear Asa Shigure that your stubborn attitude is always getting the best of you! I never thought I would ever hear you say that you won't help save a little boy from dying!"

Asa looked very shamefaced and looked down to the ground with a sad look upon her face.

"I know you made a promise, but this is not what your mother would want you to do, she would want you to help, even if it meant breaking your promise."

"But...but..." Asa didn't know what to say at that moment.

"I know your mother would want you to live a healthy life, it doesn't matter if you're human or not, it makes no difference," Rin added.

Just then, Asa remembered back to when her mother told her the truth about herself and how sorry she was for giving Asa a sick body, but there was something else. Asa remembered hearing her mother say:

"Giving birth to you was one of the happiest moments in my life, you're my sweet angel and I'll always love you, no matter what."

Asa snapped out of her thoughts and looked down to the crying mother, holding her injuried child in her arms. She shedded a tear before saying, "Thanks Rin, for making me see that I was just being stupid."

She walked up to the mother, "I can help your son," the mother wouldn't let go, "don't worry, I won't hurt him, I want to save him."

Rin just smiled. At last, the mother let go of her son and Asa walked up to him, then she gave him a big hug.

"It's okay sweet little angrl," she said soothingly to the boy, "everything's going to be okay, I promise you," within Asa and the boy were engulfed in a bright green light, which blinded everyone. Using her magic, Asa was able to heal the boy and unknown to her, her hair started to grow and she felt her strength coming back.

When the light finally dived down, everyone looked to see Asa with long green hair and a fully healed boy, who opened his eyes.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"A friend," Asa answered. The mother looked like she was going to burst into tears, "now go see the people who love you." The boy nodded and ran up to his parents, who did cry, but with happy tears.

Rin walked up to Asa, "thank you again Rin, I'm sorry for making you and everyone worry."

"There's no need to apologize Asa," he smiled, "I'm just glad to finally see you're okay and to see you act yourself again."

Asa just smiled. The mother walked up to Asa with her son in her arms, "oh thank you dear sweet girl for saving my son," she said happily, "I don't know what I would've done if I lost him. How can we ever repay you?"

"You don't need to do that at all, just seeing all you safe and sound is a good enough reward for me."

"Thanks again," the boy smiled at Asa, just as the police and emergency service crews arrived. The paramedics were surprised to see all three members of the innocent family with only a few cuts and bruises, but were more surprised by the boy, for he had no injuries.

"I will not go to jail, I did nothing wrong!" that was coming from the 'drinking' driver. The police were arresting him on a lot of charges.

"Just be thankful you didn't seriously hurt anyone," said one of the officers, "or worse." The Man continued to say he did nothing wrong, but that was to be expected in his state. They finally got him into a car and drove him off to the police station. Tow trucks came to take the wrecked cars away, they were only good for scrap now.

Asa did apologize to Ms. Ama, Percy and everyone else for making them worry and as you can guess, they were surprised to see her with long hair. I'm happy to say though that after that day, Asa never lost her breath or her energy, she had fully recovered and was soon allowed to go home and to go to school again. She still has long hair to this day, she decided to keep it, "it shows off the new and improved Asa Shigure," she will often say. If you ask any of her friends, they will all agree with her.

_**Sia and the Runaway Diesel**_

"So who is Rachel?" Li asked a few nights after Asa saved a life, "and why would she want to help that Tokyo Terror Queen Sakura?"

"Well from what Mavis heard from his Driver, Rachel is Sakura's cousin and is the England Terror's Queen," Percy answered, "She's just as bad as the Tokyo Terror Queen herself and most likely wanted to help her cousin get some payback."

"She'll go to any lengths to do it too," Thomas groaned as he looked down to his now fixed bufferbeams.

"Now hold on a second," Courtney piped up, "you said that your friend Mavis heard this from her Driver, does that mean that Rachel is his daugther?"

"Yes Courtney," Thomas answered, "Rachel is his daughter. He and his wife have been having nothing but trouble ever since that girl got into her teenage years and now her younger sister is starting to act like her."

"Not starting, she already is," Percy corrected Thomas, "on the day I was asked to come here, I was bombarded with eggs thrown by Vypra and her little gang."

"Oh star spangle banner," said Li, "those two are like the Tokyo Terror's Queen herself."

"Speaking of which," Courtney piped up, "has there been any reports of her being arrested by the police?" Everyone said 'no' in unison and the sheds went quiet. None of the engines wanted to meet up with Sakura again.

One of them however was going to meet up with her again. The following next morning, Luke was moving about in the main shunting yards arranging a goods train together. At the crossroads, Sia was walking past on her way to the grocery store when she spotted Luke, "good morning Luke! Isn't today a beautiful day?"

"It is, but it's a little chilly," answered the diesel shunter.

"I couldn't agree more," Sia said, shivering as a cold blast of wind blew right at her, "brr, I think I need to get a scraf...and a new jacket, this one is not keeping me warm," and still shivering, Sia walked away.

But what she, Luke and his own Driver didn't know was that someone was hiding in the yards, watching as Luke shunted. And that someone was Sakura the Terror Queen.

"Perfect," she snickered to herself, "all I need to do is wait till that engine driver leaves, then I can sneak in, take the engine and smash up that blue puffball."

She waited for a long time, she grew colder and colder throughout that time.

"Come on, leave already," she groaned threw her teeth.

Soon enough, Luke had finished his shunting and was moved over to a lonely siding, "I need to go some more orders Luke," his Driver said to him, "I'll be right back okay?"

"Alright sir," said Luke.

The Driver opened the door, shivered as the wind blew at him, then climbed down and walked over to the station.

At last, Sakura saw her chance. As soon as the Driver had walked into the station, she walked slowly away from her hiding place and walked over towards Luke, "if at first you don't succeed, try again by stealing," she chuckled queitly to herself.

Of course her plan would've worked, had it not been for Sia. She was heading off for home after getting the groceries. As she walked up to the crossroads leading to the Little Tokyo Railroad, she spotted the Tokyo Terror Queen climbing up the stairs to Luke's cab.

"She's at it again," Sia groaned, "well she's not getting away this time."

She walked up to the lonely siding, then after putting down her groceries, she walked slowly and quietly up to Luke's cab. As luck would have it, Sakura had no knowledge of how to operate diesel engines, so she had no idea how to get going.

"Maybe this one," she said to herself and pushed in a lever. Luke's engine roared loudly, "I think I got it now."

"Oh you got it alright," snapped a voice. Sakura jumped in fright, for there in the doorway was Sia, "I'm placing you under citizen's arrest."

"You have to catch me first girl!" snapped Sakura, she ran towards the other door of the cab, quickly climbed down and ran off as fast as her legs could take her. Sia was about to chase after her, but didn't when she saw Luke rumbling away.

"Wha...what's going on here?" Luke cried.

Instead of chasing after Sakura, Sia ran after Luke, hoping to get into his cab, but the diesel's speed increased and within moments, the diesel shunter was running away from the yards.

"Oh for crying out loud, not again!" this came from Luke's Driver, who came with his orders, "first Courtney, then Laura and now Luke! What happened Sia?"

"Sakura the Terror Queen that's what! I'm sure you can guess what she wanted to do!"

"Yeah I can guess, but we'll worry about Sakura later. What's important now is that we warn the others before a serious accident occurs." Sia nodded and ran with the Driver towards the Man in the Suit's office.

After telling the Man in the Suit of the situation, all three phoned to the engine crews of the engines that were out on the line. "Well that's all of them," Sia said afterwords, "but what about Luke? Should we send an engine to chase him down?"

"No we can't," said the Man in the Suit, "Percy's at the Transfer Point, Thomas is working on the city route line, Big Mac is under repairs so he won't be able to catch up and Shamus...well, he's at the docks right now, but he wouldn't be able to catch up to Luke."

"Plus Shamus wouldn't want to help Luke," Sia muttered quietly.

"All we can do for Luke is to keep the tracks clear and wait till he runs out of fuel."

At level crossings, the police officers stood close by the gates and stopped traffic, "What's this about?" an angry Driver asked, "I need to get back to work!"

Before the officer could answer, Luke came into view, he rattled on past and disappeared into the distance.

"Ah never mind," said the Driver of the car, he had gotten his answer.

It wasn't long before Luke arrived at the busy city streets, officers kept everyone back from the tracks. Luke was relieved for that, but he was wondering how long he would be running loose.

Further down the road, a car was rolling across the tracks, but it's engine made a loud grinding noise and came to a stop.

"Oh no, of all the times this stupid car had to..." suddenly he was cut off as an officer tapped on his window.

"Get that thing off the tracks!" he shouted.

"I know I'm not suppose on the tracks, but it's not my choice, it's this..." but again he was cut off as he saw Luke running straight towards his car. There wasn't any time to move the car, so the Driver got out, then he and the police officer ran away from it.

"Move!" Luke cried, but the car didn't move at all. Luke shut his eyes and prepared for the crash...but it never happened. He opened his eyes slowly and saw that he stopped with his buffers inches away from the car. The reason he had stopped was because he had run out of fuel.

"Whew!" gasped the car Driver, "that would've been an ugly scene, that was too close."

Soon, Thomas arrived and coupled up to Luke, then he towed the Diesel shunter back to the yards. The Man in the Suit, his Driver and Sia were there waiting for them, "thank goodness there was no damage and no one was injuried," said the Man in the Suit, then he spoke to Luke, "I don't blame you for the runaway, Sia told me that it was Sakura the Terror Queen trying to steal you."

"Where is she now?" Luke asked.

"She ran away again after I caught her," Sia answered, "I would've chased after her, but I thought maybe I could catch up to you and stop you. Sorry Luke."

"Ah don't worry about it Sia. Had it not been for you, Sakura would've taken me and caused a serious accident, so thank you."

"Well...you're welcome," Sia smiled.

The Man in the Suit spoke next, "Thomas, I want you to take Luke to get refueled, then Luke; I would like you to take your train." And as Thomas towed Luke away, the Man in the Suit spoke to Sia, he thanked her too for her help, then added, "didn't have grocery bags with you when you came by?"

"Oh no," Sia groaned, "yes I did, oh I hope they're still there." Luckily, they were, just a little frozen. Sia picked up her bags and walked off back to her house.

**Author's Note:**

This story was based on the real life event of the Runaway 'New' Iron. Someone had fiddled with the controls of the diesel shunter, which sent the engine on a trip down the tracks, light engine, with no one in the cab. The Diesel rolled on until it ran out of fuel and was later towed away back to the yards by another engine.

_**Kaede Loves...**_

One afternoon, shortly after coming home from a long day at school, Kaede walked into the kitchen and saw Rin looking at a newspaper, "What are you looking at Rin?" she asked kindly.

"I'm looking threw the newspaper to find a good place to live," he answered, "these places sure are expensive though, it costs more than what I make at my part time job."

Kaede's cheerful smile quickly faded away and in it's place was a worried look upon her face, "why Rin? Why are you looking for a place to live? Don't you like living here anymore?"

"Well yes I do like living here, but I think it's time I move into my place, but so far I've had no luck in finding a good place. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a good place."

"I'm sure you will," Kaede said with a small smile, but deep down, she was upset.

She walked over to the counter to get started on making dinner. As she got started, a thought came into her head, "did I do something to upset him? Does he hate me? Is that why he's moving out?"

Thoughout the rest of the evening, she hardly said a word, but she did make a good meal, washed all the dishes and finished all of her homework.

Later in the evening, Kaede was thinking so much over her own questions that she just couldn't sleep. So she decided to go talk to someone, "I hope Thomas is at the sheds," she thought to herself. She walked quietly out of her room and down the stairwell, then once she had her boots and jacket on, she walked off towards the Little Tokyo sheds.

Thomas was at the sheds, he had just returned after bringing back some empty trucks to the yards and was now looking forward to a good night's rest, and so were his crew.

"What a day," sighed the fireman, "I'm looking forward to getting some sleep tonight, I'm tired."

"Same here," shivered the Driver as he went to close the shed doors, "but first I would like to have a nice warm cup of cocoa..." he paused.

"Yeah I could do with a hot cup of cocoa myself," chuckled the fireman, then looked over to see his friend looking towards the window. The Driver was looking at something, "what are you looking at?"

"It's Kaede, she's coming over to the sheds."

"Kaede?" Thomas asked, "What's she doing out this late at night?"

Moments later, Kaede came into view, standing just outside the shed doors, "hello Ms. Kaede," said the Driver, "what are you doing up this late? Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"I do, but..." she went quiet.

"Something's bothering you, I can tell," Thomas said as he looked at the sad look on his friend's face. Kaede nodded her head sadly. Thomas then spoke to his crew, "you two can go get some rest, I'll talk with Kaede."

"Very well then," said the Driver, "We'll see you tomorrow Thomas, and good night Ms. Kaede."

And with that, the Driver and fireman left. No sooner were they out of sight then Kaede burst into tears. She walked sadly up to Thomas' buffer beams and started crying all over them.

"What's the matter Kaede?" Thomas asked kindly, "why are you crying?"

"It's Rin, he wants to move out," she sobbed, "I think he wants to get away from me!"

"Why would you think that?"

"Because he hates me!"

"Rin doesn't hate you, he cares alot about you, just like he cares about everyone in his life."

"Then why? Why would want to move out?"

"I don't know," he whispered softly and looking over to the doorway. Thomas then looked down to his young orange haired friend, "why don't we ask him tomorrow? In the meantime, why don't you stay here with me?"

Kaede looked up to Thomas with tears still pouring down from her eyes, "Do you mean it?"

"Of course I do," he answered with a small smile, "you're always welcome to spend the night with us. To be honest though, my bufferbeam might not be as soft as a bed."

"It's okay," she sobbed quietly, "I don't mind." She wiped away her tears, then she climbed onto his bufferbeams and layed down there.

"I don't think Rin hates you Kaede," Thomas whispered softly to her, "After all, he stayed by your side throughout your entire childhood and he's always been there for you ever since then, and don't forget, you are one of his best friends too."

It was then that Thomas heard some faint snoring, he looked down and saw that Kaede was sleeping.

"Sweet dreams Kaede," Thomas whispered softly to her.

He stayed awake a bit longer, just keeping an eye on his friend. Moments later, he heard the side door opening and a familar figure came walking into the sheds, it was Rin, still wearing his pajamas, but was also wearing boots and a big jacket.

"I had a feeling that I would find her out here," he said quietly.

"Then you know _why_ she is here. Rin, why do you want to move away from Kaede? Is it because you hate her?"

"What? No of course not, I don't hate her. I would never hate Kaede, she's one of my closest friends."

"Then why Rin?" he asked.

For a while, Rin didn't answer his question. Thomas raised his right eyebrow, "I thought as much, you don't have a reason for moving out."

"That's not true!" Rin said in protest, "I just...I just want to show Kaede that she can do so much without always looking out for me."

"Well I think she knows that, but I think she does it because she cares. She wants to help you as much as she can because of your friendship. She knows she can't be your girlfriend, but she doesn't mind as long as she can help her friend. If you move out of her house, then you'll be telling her that you don't want to be her friend anymore and all she has done for you was for nothing."

"Have you gone through this before Thomas?" Rin asked as he looked down to his sleeping friend.

"As a steam engine, I have gone through that before and I've seen it before too. Trust me Rin, I know what I am talking about." The two went silent as Kaede moved a bit, trying to get into a comfortable position. Thomas smiled at his friend, then looked back over to Rin, "when the time does come and you're more than ready to go out to 'live your life to the fullest' as Kaede often says, then she will know that all has done for you was worth it," he concluded.

Rin was silent for a moment, then he nodded, "yeah, you're right Thomas."

He then walked up to Thomas' bufferbeams and rubbed Kaede's shoulder softly while whispering her name. After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked up, "oh hello Rin" she asked before letting out a yawn, "what are you doing here?"

"I came out here looking for you. Listen Kaede, I've been doing some thinking about moving out and..."

"I know, I heard you and Thomas talking."

"You were listening in?" Thomas asked, "but I thought you were asleep."

"I was for a short while, but I heard you and Rin talking, so I pretended to sleep," she giggled quietly.

Thomas showed a small smile, but remained quiet as Rin spoke to Kaede, "I want you to hear this from me, I don't hate you Kaede, I never have and I never will. I've always considered you to be a good friend to me and I am enterily grateful for all you have done for me. I know we can never be boyfriend and girlfriend, but I hope we can stay as good friends forever."

"Of course we can Rin," Kaede smiled. She got up till she was sitting upright on Thomas' bufferbeams, jumped down and ran up to Rin, giving him a big hug.

"I'm sorry for making you cry again Kaede."

"It's okay Rin, after all it's okay to cry every now and then," she smiled. Thomas quietly agreed with her.

Rin just smiled, he was happy to see that smile on Kaede's face again, "now what do you say we go home and get some rest," he suggested, "and I promise I won't talk about moving out for a long while, okay?"

"Okay," Kaede then turned her attention back over to Thomas, "Thank you for helping Thomas."

"I'm always glad to help," he said.

There was a pause, then Kaede ran up to Thomas, climbed back onto his bufferbeams and kissed him on the right side of his face, "I love you Thomas," she whispered to her tank engine friend.

Thomas' eyes spun round again, but he still smiled, "and I love you too Kaede," he whispered.

He didn't need to say anything else. Kaede walked over to the middle of the bufferbeam and got down on her knees, then he kissed her on top of her head.

Rin just continued to smile, he knew that Kaede cared about Thomas, like she cares about all her friends and her family.

After the kiss, she climbed down from the bufferbeam and walked over to Rin, "we'll see you later Thomas!" she said sweetly and waved to Thomas, then the teenagers walked off towards the door.

"Yeah, I'll see you two later," he whispered softly as to not wake the other engines up. He watched as Kaede and Rin walked away from the sheds and disappeared into the distance as they made their way home.

Rin was true to his word, he stopped looking threw the newspapers and stopped talking about moving out. He has agreed that when he's ready, then _that_ will be the time for him to move out and he also promised never to upset Kaede again, if he does, he will find a way to make it up to her. I'd say Kaede is lucky to have such good friends, from those she grew up with throughout childhood to friends that run on the rails, she is one lucky girl, don't you think so?

_**Nerine, Courtney and the Snowplough**_

It was starting to snow by the time Kaede and Rin had returned to the Fuyou house and by midnight, the snow was coming down hard. The following next morning, the engines awoke to find lots of snow on the ground. It looked like a winter wonderland.

"Bucking Broncos," exclaimed Li, "that's a lot of snow!"

"There's even more snow now than there was last year," said Courtney, but she didn't look to happy about it.

"What's the matter Courtney?" Percy asked.

Courtney sighed and answered the question, "with all this snow on the ground, this means I'll work with Yuji today."

"Who's Yuji," Thomas asked.

"He's a rotary snowplough we got in the yards, he used to work on a short branch line in America. He's useful and I'm sure he means well, but he's awkward and rude, especially to steam engines, he thinks we're all useless. He also likes to go by the name of 'The Crusher'."

"Why 'The Crusher'?" Li asked curiously.

"I don't know," Courtney muttered.

At that moment, the Man in the Suit came into the sheds, "ahh, nice and warm in here," he said. Today, he was wearing a big heavy jacket and heavy duty boots.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Man in the _coat_," Li chuckled.

The Man in the Suit chuckled very quietly before speaking up, "I need one of you engines to take the workmen's coach and Yuji down the line to clear the tracks. We had a very big snowstorm last night, so all the tracks are covered."

"Can I do the job sir? I don't mind working on snowplough duties," Laura asked.

"It's a suitable job for _your_ type," Shamus muttered, but quickly went silent when he saw the other engines looking at him with firm looks on their faces again.

"It's nice of you to offer Laura, but you're going to have to stay in the sheds for a bit. Jim's coming in later to have a look at your engine and make sure nothing freezes up during your runs," he then turned to Courtney, who already knew of what the Man in the Suit was going to say, "Courtney, since you're in steam, you can take Yuji and the workmen's coach."

"Yes sir," sighed Courtney, but she wasn't really happy about this decision.

When Courtney came out of the shed, she saw that some of the tracks and the turntable had been cleared of snow, "those workmen must've been working for hours just clearing the snow," she thought to herself, "I must thank them next time I see them."

She soon reached the yards where she collected the works coach and then collect Yuji. The Rotary snowplough wasn't too happy to be seeing Courtney, "oh you again huh? I thought one of those diesels would be coming to collect me. Why can't you ever stay out of my way?"

"It's the Man in the Suit's orders Yuji, he wanted me to take you."

"Fine!" he huffed, "let's just get this over with!"

Soon the train was ready and Courtney pushed it to the big station where the workmen were waiting for them. Two climbed into Yuji while the rest of the workmen climbed into the coach with various different tools. They weren't alone, Nerine was standing on the platform as well, she was wearing a pink jacket, red gloves and dark blue boots.

"Hello Courtney, what are you doing today?" she asked kindly.

"Snowplough duties I'm afraid," groaned Courtney, "I have to deal with Yuji today, otherwise known as Mr. Grumpy."

"I can hear you!" Yuji snapped, "now shut up and start pushing you useless steaming bucket of bolts!"

"He's always like that," Courtney whispered to Nerine, then she asked, "would you like to come along with us today Rina?"

"Well I would love to, as long as it's okay with your crew."

"You don't even need to ask Nerine, you're always welcome into the cab," said the Driver. That being said, Nerine climbed into Courtney's cab where the fireman gave her a cup of hot cocoa. A guard's whistle was heard, the Driver opened the regulator and Courtney pushed the small train out of the station.

Snow can be difficult stuff to clear away, at times it can be soft and easy to remove, other times it can be as hard as a rock. When the train came up to a hard patch of snow, they charge it, backed up and then attack it again.

"The line's gotten longer since last year," said the fireman, "we'll most likely be out here all day."

"Maybe we will, maybe we won't, you never know," said the Driver.

"Hopefully we won't," Courtney muttered to herself.

Yuji liked snowplough duties, he thought it was great fun, but he didn't like the slow pace they were going at, "pick up the pace you silly engine!" he shouted, "I don't want to keep hearing you behind me all day!"

"Too bad for you that's all your going to hear!" Courtney shouted.

"Just ignore him Courtney," advised Nerine, "he just wants attention, it's better not to give it to him." Courtney sure was glad that she had asked Nerine to come along with them.

Then the special ran into trouble - Yuji ran over some hard packed snow, but instead of pushing it away, he rolled over it. His front wheels left the rails and ran into a huge pile of snow and stopped. The sudden jerk stopped the train, which nearly made Nerine fall out of the cab, "what happened?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," replied the Driver as he applied Courtney's brakes, "I'll go find out what happened."

The Driver climbed down from the cab and returned moments later, "Yuji's front wheels have come off the rails, all thanks to some hard packed snow."

"Oh of all the rotten luck," groaned the fireman, "now what are we going to do? The rest of the tracks are still covered with snow, so Nora can't come out here and she'll never be able to come up from behind us."

Nerine looked out of the cab at the derailed Yuji, then she spoke to the crew, "why don't we just pull Yuji back onto the tracks, then we can use the spades to clear the tracks."

"I vote for Rina's idea!" Courtney piped up.

"You always do," chuckled the Driver, "and for good reason too, it is a good plan. Alright, let's give this plan a try."

Once back in the cab, Courtney's Driver opened the reserver and Courtney started to pull Yuji back to the tracks. He was jammed in tight into the snowbank, but after a few moments, he rolled back on the marks he made and soon rolled back onto the steel rails again.

With Yuji back on the tracks, Nerine, the crew and the workmen got to work in removing the hard patch of snow from the rails. It was hard tiring work, but after a few minutes, that section of track was finally clear and the train could start again.

Thanks to Nerine's idea, they were able to get threw that section with no trouble, "clever Rina," Courtney said to her, "your idea worked perfectly."

"Thanks Courtney, I'm just glad to have helped."

After that section, the train rolled on down the tracks with no more trouble or derailments. They finished their work by around noon and the special train rolled into the yards where the Man in the Suit was waiting for them.

"So I hear you had a little bit of trouble out on the main line," he said to Courtney.

"We did sir, just had a little snow trouble, but we got back on track thanks to Nerine, she got us out of that predicament."

The Man in the Suit smiled at Nerine, "You always seem to come through in a tight spot and help us out. Maybe I should start watching my job," he chuckled and walked away. Both Courtney and Nerine chuckled too, but not Yuji. For some reason after today's events, he longer wants to go by the name of 'The Crusher' and has learned to be respectfully silent.

**Author's Note:**

This story's derailment incident was inspired by a real life event where a pair of Canadian National diesels had been pushing a rotary snowplough along the tracks of a branch line, sometime in the 1980's. The snowplough had hit some hard packed snow and it's front wheels came off the tracks just before a level crossing. The crews were able to get the snowplough back onto the tracks and were able to continue on with their snowplough duties.

_**Primula the Young Railway Worker**_

Thomas and Percy's stay in the City of Tokyo was coming to a close, both tank engines were due to go back to the Island of Sodor the day after Christmas. While the two engines were happy to be spending the holidays with their friends, they were sad to be leaving again. The other engines and their friends were sad too, but Shamus was not.

"About time too," he sniffed rudely, "you Sudrian engines have been giving me nothing but headaches since you arrived. Good riddance if you ask me."

"Did we hear anyone asking you Shamus?" Sia snapped at him while visiting the sheds. There was a moment's pause before Sia continued, "I didn't think so, now shut your mouth if you got nothing nice to say!"

Shamus snorted, but said no more.

The Man in the Suit came into the sheds, he greeted Sia, then he spoke to the engines, "with Christmas coming up, we're going to have alot of work to do. For passenger trains, I would like Li, Thomas, Percy and Laura to take them while Courtney, Luke, Big Mac and Shamus do the goods runs."

"I refuse to pull those stupid trucks again," snorted Shamus, "I want to pull passengers!"

"You will do as you are told Shamus!" snapped the Man in the Suit firmly, "go aganist my orders again and I'll leave you in the sheds until new years, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," muttered Shamus.

"Well I better be off," said Sia, "today's the last day of school before the holidays begin and I don't want to be late myself. I'll see you engines later." That being said, Sia turned and walked out of the sheds while the engines left their sheds to begin work.

With the Christmas holiday rush, the engines were working very hard. Lots of important goods were coming in on the ships and the engines would have to take them to either the Warehouse District or the Transfer Point. Lots of people in the city also wanted to travel to other cities in Japan, so the other engines would take them to the Transfer Point where they would get on board the Japanese High School Bullet trains, which would then take them to where they wanted to go.

There was a lot of work, but seven of the eight engines didn't mind, especially when they saw the happy faces of the passengers and workmen.

Thomas' fireman though was not feeling cheerful. In fact, he felt poorly, "are you alright?" the Driver asked him on one of their runs, "you look like you've got the flu."

"Yeah I'm alright," the fireman answered, "it's just a little cold, there's nothing to worry about."

"Right," the Driver said with a raised eyebrow. He had heard several stories of a couple of Little Tokyo Railway employees feeling unwell and collapse unexpectly, "maybe you should take some time off work and just rest."

"I'll do that on Christmas day and on the way back to Sodor."

But the Driver wasn't going to let his friend work when he's unwell, so after returning to the big station, he asked the Man in the Suit if they have a relief take over while the fireman got some rest, "I'll get a relief as soon as possible, just tell your friend to get some rest."

"Yes sir," said the Driver and left to tell the fireman.

When he came out, he saw the fireman standing outside the cab looking worse than before, "I think I will go back to the hotel and get some rest," he groaned, "I feel like I'm going to lose my stomach."

"How can you lose your stomach?" asked a young voice from nearby, it was Primula, she had just arrived with Rin and Kaede.

"It's just a figure of speech Primula," Rin said to her, "it just means that Thomas' fireman is feeling sick."

"Yes that is what it means," groaned the fireman.

"Come on, I'll take you back to the hotel," said the Driver, "the Man in the Suit's going to get us a relief fireman. In the meantime Thomas, you stay put in this siding okay? I'll be right back."

"And where would I go?" Thomas asked sarcastically, "I know that I can't run without a crew in my cab."

The Driver chuckled quietly, then he and the fireman walked away. No sooner were they out of sight then Primula said, "I could help, I could be Thomas' fireman."

"I don't think you're going to be Thomas' fireman," said Rin.

"And why not?"

"Cause I can see the Man in the Suit coming with another person."

Sure enough, the Man in the Suit was walking up to Thomas with his relief fireman, "is this the engine I'm going to be working with?" she asked.

"Yes it is," the Man in the Suit nodded, "North Western Railway's No. 1-Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas, this is Lenalee, she will be your relief fireman until you are ready to go back to Sodor."

"It's an honor to meet you Thomas," said Lenalee, "I promise I'll do my best not to let you down."

And she certainly lived up to her promise, Lenalee was a very good fireman. During the runs, she always made sure Thomas had a good fire burning in his firebox and making sure that he had plenty of steam for work. She was also quite friendly and instead of talking about herself, she would listen to the stories Thomas and his Driver had from their adventures on Sodor and the Little Tokyo Railroad.

Primula though was sad, she had a wish that she could work with Thomas, even for one day, but it looked like it wasn't come true anytime soon...little did she know that she was soon going to get her chance to get to work with Thomas.

On Christmas day, Kaede, Rin and their friends all came to the sheds to spend some time with their engine friends. They had already opened up their gifts that morning and even showed some of them to the engines.

"See this necklace around my neck Percy?" Asa asked while pointing to it, "Rin gave it to me as a gift."

"It's a very nice necklace," said Percy.

"Well I'm glad you like it Asa," said Rin, "I knew from the moment I saw that necklace that you would like it."

Their conversations were cut short when Lenalee came running into the shed and climbed into Thomas' cab, "what's going on?" Thomas asked.

"It's Shamus, he's come off the rails on the Transfer Point line, we need to go down there and get him back on the tracks."

"What about Nora?" Kaede asked, "couldn't she rescue Shamus?"

"Normally she would, but she's in the workshops right now getting a new firebox, so we'll have to collect the other crane and get over there...hey hold on, where's your Driver Thomas?"

"He's probably on the way right now."

"Afraid not," said the Man in the Suit, who had come into the sheds, "I just got a call from your fireman and he says that you're Driver has come down with the flu, he's not going anywhere. We'll have to get Percy fired up..."

"No," Primula piped up, "I'll drive Thomas!"

"Sorry young lady, but you can't..."

"It's okay Lenalee," Thomas interupted, "Primula knows what she's doing. Both my Driver and fireman have taught her how to operate me, so I know I'm in good hands with her."

Lenalee wasn't completely sure, but didn't argue aganist the idea for too long. So once the fire had been lit and the shed doors had opened up, Primula drove Thomas over to the yards where they collected Cedric, an old crane from the British Railways, then they set off to the rescue.

Lenalee was worried during the run, she thought that Primula would make Thomas go too fast and then they'd have another accident. She didn't need to worry, Primula drove Thomas smoothly along the tracks and braked him gently when they reached Shamus. Shamus had been bouncing about because he was complaining about the cold weather and now he sat with all eight wheels off the tracks.

"Bothersome tracks," he grumbled, "I'd do better on a dirt trail, this track should be torn up!"

"Don't be silly," said his Driver firmly, "this track is just fine, you were the one bouncing about. So there's no one to blame but yourself!"

Shamus continued to retort even as Cedric went to work. Chains were wrapped around Shamus' buffer beam, then a workman placed the hook inside one of the chains, "alright!" he called, "you're good to go, lift him up!"

Cedric didn't need telling twice, he roared into life. Slowly but surely, he lifted the grumbling green engine upwards. Workmen with planks of wood stayed on both sides to help move Shamus towards the rails. It took a while, but at last, Shamus was lifted back onto the rails.

"There you are Shamus, that must feel much better now," said Cedric. Shamus said nothing.

Once Shamus had been coupled up, Primula opened the reserver slowly and Thomas towed Shamus, Cedric and the trains back to the yards.

After returning to the yards, Thomas shunted the goods train Shamus had been hauling into a siding, then he took Cedric to his shed for a rest. The Man in the Suit ordered Thomas to leave Shamus in the goods siding, "I will talk with him later," he said, and so Thomas left Shamus out in the cold and returned to the sheds.

"Well I had my doubts," said Lenalee, "and now I feel foolish for doubting you Primula, you are a good Driver."

"Thank you," she smiled.

"I'm impressed with you Primula," said the Man in the Suit, then he asked, "Should any firemen or Drivers call in sick, can I call upon you to fill in?"

"Of course you can sir," Primula nodded.

Thomas spoke next, "you did quite well Primula, you remind me of when a girl named Stephine drove me, would you like to hear that story?"

"Yes please," she said. Her friends also listened in as Thomas told the story. The Man in the Suit however, walked away to speak with Shamus.

The following next day, Thomas and Percy were ready to go back to the Island of Sodor. Before leaving, they had their photographs taken with Kaede, Rin and their friends. One photo would go to the Fat Controller, one would be in the Man in the Suit's office and two of them would into the engine sheds of the Ffarquhar Branch Line and of the Little Tokyo Railroad.

Thomas' fireman had fully recovered, but the Driver was still feeling uneasy.

"You just get some rest," Primula said to him, "and don't do anything until you're feeling better."

"Sure Primula," he nodded. "Oh and well done. I heard you were Thomas' Driver for a day and you did a splendid job of it. I think I see a railroading career in your future."

All too soon, it was time to leave. Thomas and Percy were lifted on board the ships while the crews got into their rooms. The Two tank engines said good bye and thank you for a wonderful time, then once on board, the ship sounded it's horn and pulled away from the docks. Primula stayed to watch as the ship disappeared into the distance. She smiled at knowing that her wish did come true and for one day, she got to work with her friend, Thomas the Tank Engine.

_**The End!**_


	27. Fire Fighting Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 27**_

_**Fire Fighting Engines**_

_**Based on the Original 'New Year's Blow Out' Special Story by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_On New Year's eve, there was an incident down at the dockyards of the Little Tokyo Railroad, mostly caused through impatience and, as Li will put down, 'down right stupidity', but thanks to the determination of the engines, the workers and their friends, the dockyards were saved and no one was injuried. Here's what happened on New Year's Eve at the Little Tokyo Dockyards._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Impatience Lead to Trouble

-Getting Out of Control

-Taking a Risk

-Happy New Year!

_**Impatience Lead to Trouble**_

After Christmas Day, people started getting ready for New Year's Eve. Many of them were going to have parties at their houses and Drew was one of them, he was holding a little party for himself, Melissa (who had returned to celebrate the Christmas Holidays with Drew) and all their friends at his house.

Business was in full swing on the Little Tokyo Railroad too, the steam engines were busy taking loads to and from the Warehouse District or the dockyards. Today however, operations were different, the steam engines were asked to take their loads to the yards and then either Luke or Laura would take the trains to the dockyards.

"I don't see why they should be taking over our trains," sniffed Shamus, "we can do the job better than those motor oil traitors."

"It's for safety reasons today Shamus," said Big Mac, "as we were told this morning by the Man in the Suit, a huge supply of oil and fuel have arrived and our diesels have been asked to shunt those trucks."

"I still don't see why, all they would do is go at a slow pace and delay us."

"Not if they're doing the job properly," said Shamus' Driver, "and that's what the diesels are doing now, cause one wrong move could send the entire dockyards up in flames."

"Plus another reason you weren't asked to do the job," added the fireman, "is because you might blow off ashes out of your funnel..."

"Oh shut up!" Shamus snapped as he was reserved to couple up to his trucks, but he went too quickly and bumped his trucks hard. The force of the blow made the fireman fall backwards and fall out of the cab.

"Are you alright?" the Driver called to the fireman.

"Yeah I'm alright," he groaned as he picked himself up, "nothing's broken, thank goodness. The snow broke my fall. Let's just try to keep Shamus under control, for all of our sakes."

"We'll try, but with his stubborn attitude, it might be difficult."

The fireman sadly agreed and walked over to the back of Shamus' tender to couple him up to the trucks. Sadly, due to the bump, Shamus had forced them back a short distance, so the Driver reserved Shamus slowly and carefully towards the train. Soon the fireman had coupled him up to the train, then climbed back into the cab as the train puffed slowly out of the yards.

"Now I'll show you how a _real_ engine does his jobs," he shouted to Big Mac before he puffed out to the open main line.

"He's heading for trouble and that's no mistake," said Big Mac quietly to himself.

In the meanwhile at Drew's house, Kaede, Rin and Primula were helping Drew and Melissa set everything up for the New Year's party that evening.

"Everything's looking pretty good," said Drew, "now we just need the streamers, Primula; can you get them?"

"I'm on my way," said Primula and ran over to the hallway closest where the supplies were. The box of streamers were sitting on the top shelf which was out of Primula's reach, "when there's a will, there's a way," she thought to herself. She went to get the broom - she soon returned with it and very carefully, moved the box slowly off the shelf.

She was so focused on getting the box down that she didn't think about how to catch it until it was too late. The box titled up and down for a few seconds, then it fell right on top of Primula.

"Rimu?!" Kaede called, "are you alright?!"

There was no answer from her, so Kaede and Melissa walked out of the living room and found Primula with the box on top of her head.

Melissa lifted the box off Primula's head and looked to see Primula all tangled up in streamers, "I didn't think about how I was going to catch it," she said, "and by the time I did, it just fell on me."

"Are you hurt?" Kaede asked.

"No, I'm not hurt."

"That's good," said Melissa before adding, "still, you look quite festive. Don't worry though, we'll get you free from them."

It took a while, but at last they had freed her from all the streamers, "thank you," she said gratefully, then she brought the streamers into the living room.

No sooner had she walked in then Drew came out, "Melissa, can you go by the grocery store and pick up some things, I forgot to do that, you know with preparing for this party and all."

"Sure thing Drew," she smiled, but it faded within seconds, "but I'm not sure where the grocery store is."

"I can show you where it is Melissa," said Kaede, "and I'll help you bring the groceries back here."

"Thanks Kaede, it's no wonder why everybody likes you so much, you're a good friend."

Kaede just smiled. Drew handed Melissa the list of stuff that they needed for the party, then once the two girls had their winter gear on, they headed off for the grocery store.

At the dockyards, the Man in the Suit and a yard foreman were keeping a close eye on the operations going on, they wanted to make sure nothing went wrong.

"Easy does it Laura!" called the yard foreman, "slow down!" Laura slowed down a little more until she heard her trucks couple up together with a little clang, "perfect!"

"Nice work there Laura," called the Man in the Suit, "with you and Luke doing the job properly, we might get this before sunset today."

"And hopefully without any disasters sir," Laura said with a nervous tone in her voice, "I've heard about dockyard disasters on other railroads and they..." Laura didn't finish, she didn't want to say anything.

Less than forty minutes later, their work was nearly done. The sun was already setting and a few more trucks needed to be moved before the work was complete, Luke was the engine to shunt the trucks, but at the moment, he was busy shunting trucks into a siding after Big Mac brought them in from the warehouse District.

At the crossroads, Kaede and Melissa were on their way back to Drew's house when they saw Asa standing close by the big station.

"Hello Asa," said Melissa, "what are you doing out here?"

"Oh I'm just watching Luke and Laura do their shunting," she answered, "from what I've been told, they're doing some very dangerous work down at the dockyards and so far I haven't seen any of the steam engines go there."

As if on cue, Shamus' loud shrill whistle was heard and he appeared into the yards, storming past Luke and heading towards the dockyards.

"He's not suppose to be going to the dockyards," said Asa looking completely shocked, "something tells me he's going to land in a lot of trouble."

Asa was going to be proven right. The Men were checking over the couplings when they heard Shamus' whistle and moments later, the green tender engine came into the dockyards and stopped close to Rick. "Hey tall, dumb and ugly, unload my trucks!" he shouted.

"Forget it, I'm not unloading your trucks until that little diesel shunts those silly tankers out of the way! So why don't you be a good little piece of scrap and get out of my dockyards!"

Shamus scoffed, "I ain't going nowhere until these trucks are unloaded! I'm not going to wait around for that tin can on wheels to finish his jobs, he moves at the pace of a snail!"

The Man in the Suit stormed up towards Shamus, looking cross, "sorry sir," said the Driver, "But Shamus wouldn't obey our controls, we tried to stop him, but he just continued on."

"I had a feeling as much," the Man in the Suit groaned before turning his attention back to Shamus, "you're not suppose to be here Shamus, now please back up to the yards and wait till Luke is done with his work."

"Forget it, I will not wait. I'll tell you what I'll do though, I'll shunt the trucks myself!"

"No you don't," said his Driver, quickly grabbing the reserver, "you're going back and that's that!"

But Shamus wouldn't obey his Driver's commands, he fought aganist him. Kaede, Asa and Melissa arrived just in time to hear a loud snap and watched as Shamus rolled forward - too quickly.

"Now this is how you get the job done!" he shouted.

Shamus rolled along until he bashed into the trucks, making them spill some of their cargo onto the ground and make him come off the tracks. His Driver and fireman fell back into the pile of coal, but thankfully they weren't hurt.

"Anymore of this and Shamus will end sending me to the hospital," groaned the fireman.

The Driver picked himself up and started shouting at Shamus, "I hope you're happy with yourself! Now thanks to you, Rick, Laura and Luke won't have enough..." suddenly he was cut off as a whoosh of sparks left the funnel and landed on the ground, "oh this can't be good."

_**Getting Out of Control**_

Shamus' Driver was right, it wasn't going to be good. "Get away from there!" shouted the Man in the Suit, "before the sparks..."

But it was too late, the sparks landed right on the spilled fuel and soon it was up in flames.

Instead of being scared, Shamus just snickered, "good bye to the fuel and oil, those motor oil traitors won't be able to work. Useless good nothings will be just that! Good for nothings!" He was so pleased with himself for knocking over the fuel and oil that he didn't notice that the flames were starting to get close to him.

"He's gone mad that stupid engine," said Melissa.

At that moment, Luke returned and could not believe the sight that awaited him, "what's going on here?!" he exclaimed, "Shamus! Get out of there, those flames..."

"Oh shut up motor oil..." but he didn't say another word as he saw the flames coming towards him. _Now_ he was scared, "What are you waiting for? Get me out of here Stupid!"

"We couldn't even if we wanted to, which we do," shouted the Driver, "you're off the rails thanks to your reckless actions!"

"I'll get him!" cried Luke and roared forward towards Shamus.

"Don't be stupid Luke, stay away from him," shouted Rick from above, "it's way too dangerous, you'll get burned up by the flames too!"

Further away from the yards, Sia and Nerine were on their way to the yards to have a little conversation with Courtney and Li, if they were in the yards. As they got closer, Sia could see smoke in the distance.

"That's a lot of smoke coming from the dockyards," she said, "you would think something was on fire."

"I think something is on fire Sia," said Nerine, "and I fear it might be those oil and fuel tankers Courtney was telling me about this morning."

"Well if it's fuel and oil, we better get over there and see if we can help put the fire out," Nerine didn't need telling twice. Without even thinking for another second, Nerine and Sia started running off towards the dockyards, "somehow I know who's started this mess."

At that dockyards, Luke rumbled up towards Shamus, who ranted loudly, "get away from me Motor oil traitor, you'll spoil my image!"

"Your image will get destoryed if I don't get you out of this mess! Cause the flames will burn you to a crisp!"

Luke's Driver climbed down from the cab and went to couple his engine to Shamus' tender, but he was having trouble as the flames were getting closer and closer towards them.

"Just leave him Luke!" shouted the yard foreman, "and get yourself out of there!"

"I've got to try!" Luke shouted back, "I can't just leave an engine to burn, not even Shamus!"

Not too far away, Rin, Primula and Drew were walking along on the sidewalk. They had already left Kaede and Melissa a small note letting them know that they were walking around for a bit and would return soon.

"What's that?" Primula asked out loud.

"What's what?" Rin asked.

Primula pointed to one direction, "looks like they're having a little celebration," she said, "just look."

Both boys looked, Drew gasped in an instant, "that's no celebration Primula! That's a fire and it's at the dockyards," at that moment, they heard sirens in the distance and moments later, several fire bargade vehicles roared by them, heading towards the smoke.

"It's definetly no celebration if the fire bargade has been called upon," said Rin.

"I hope no one's been hurt," said Primula quietly, then she started running towards the dockyards. Rin and Drew followed closely behind, they were also hoping that no one had been hurt.

"Get away from me Motor Oil!" snapped Shamus, "and go sink yourself into the water like the good little piece of scrap iron you are!"

Luke ignored that remark and tried to pull Shamus back onto the rails, but it was most difficult, what with Shamus refusing to be moved, "come on Shamus!" he groaned.

"I refuse to be pulled by a diesel like you, so buzz off!"

Luke tugged and pulled as hard as he could - and finally after a great deal of effort, he finally got Shamus back onto the rails, "Sir! What should I do with Shamus now?" Luke asked the Man in the Suit.

"Put him in a siding out of the way! I'll deal with him later!"

"No, take me back!" Shamus shouted in protest, "I can fight the fires myself!"

"With what?" Luke asked crossly, "All you'd do is make the situation worse, now shut up and be quiet!" With that shouted, Shamus subsided into silence while Luke shunted him out of the way. Although Shamus was now safe, the dockyards were not, the flames were spreading fast.

Meanwhile, the fire bargade were having troubles of their own, they were slipping on the roads due to black ice. "Whoa, whoa!" shouted the fire cheif before their engine finally regained control.

"At the rate we're going," said one of the firemen, "we'll be lucky to get to the dockyards before Midnight."

"We'll get there son," said the fire cheif, "it's better to safe than sorry, we might crash and then how can we help?"

"We couldn't," said another fireman as he looked to the direction of the smoke, "looks like it's getting thicker sir."

"I can see it," said the fire cheif, "just keep going at the pace we're going and we'll be there soon."

It wasn't just the fire bargade who were on the way towards the fire, Mayumi, Itsuki, Kareha and even the kings were running to see what was going on and to see if they could lend a hand.

On the Little Tokyo Railroad, Courtney, Li and Big Mac were getting coupled up to some trucks full of sand, "I've never seen smoke that thick and dark before," said Courtney, "not even when I was sick."

Shiori the Truck was looking up at the smoke, "I don't think all the sand we've got will put out all those flames," she said.

"We've still got to try something Shiori," said Big Mac as he backed onto the trucks and was coupled up to them, "we can't let our own dockyards burn down."

"I've seen dockyards burn down in the past," said Li, "and I can tell you, it's not a pleasant sight to see."

Once coupled up, the three engines pulled their trucks all full of crates of sand, brought down from the warehouse district, and soon pulled up to the docks where they saw the flames spreading before their own eyes. Then Courtney saw Shamus in a siding, "need I ask?"

"Nope, you don't need to ask Courtney," said Asa shaking her head.

The workmen wasted no time in unloading the trucks full of sand using spades, they poured the sand onto the fire. Asa, Kaede and Melissa joined in too until the flames looked like they were going out.

"Whew!" gasped the Big Japanese Engine, "That was too close for comfort."

Laura, who had moved away shortly after the accident looked over to Shamus, "you're very lucky we were able to get the flames under control, do you know what damage you would've caused?"

"Sometimes," Li piped up, "I wonder what goes on in that thick head..."

"The flames are spreading!" Kaede shouted.

She was right. Without warning, the flames suddenly reappeared. The workmen poured more sand onto the fires, but no sooner had they done that, then the flames started up again and were now spreading along the dockside.

"Back away everyone!" shouted Big Mac, "the flames are getting too close!"

Indeed they were, the flames were starting to get close to Rick's legs and worse still, the heat from the flames were starting to melt the metal. There was a loud creaking noise and Rick started tilting towards the water. The operator didn't have much time to get out, so he stayed in the cab and braced himself for the fall.

Within moments, the metal had been melted and Rick started falling towards the water, "oh no!" Rick shouted and hit the water with a big splash!

"Once bitten, twice shot," Li muttered.

"What a mess," groaned the Man in the Suit as he surveyed the damage caused already and looking at the flames spreading. "Alright," he said, turning back to everyone, "we're going to need more sand and probably some water too. Laura; I want you to go down to the Warehouse District and get back here as quick as you can go, meanwhile we'll try to keep the flames under control until you get back.

"Yes sir," said Laura and rumbled away from the dockyards, just as Rick's operator finally climbed back onto the dockside, freezing cold.

Just then, Mayumi, Kareha and the rest of the gang arrived, nearly out of breath, "the fire bargade is on the way," panted Mayumi, "they're just having trouble thanks to black ice, so they'll be a while yet."

"We don't have a while," said Courtney, "those flames are spreading fast!"

"Well until they show up, we'll have to use what's left of the sand on the fire," said the Man in the Suit, "we have to save the dockyards."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Primula asked.

"As a matter of fact there is, there is some extra spades in the storage shed near the station, can you get them and bring them here? We could use all the help we can get."

"I'm on my way," said Primula. Without wasting a second, Primula, along with Rin and Kaede, ran to the storage shed to get the spades.

_**Taking a Risk**_

Laura rattled on down the line till she reached the Warehouse District where she found a long train and Ken waiting for her, "do you have a sixth sense Ken?" she asked in surprise as she looked at the train.

"No, I just had a feeling you would be coming for these trucks...plus I can see the smoke from here," he answered.

"Well thanks for arranging these trucks Ken, they're sure to help save the dockyards," there was no time to turn around, so Laura was coupled up to the long train and rumbled away.

Ken whistled out to the big U50 diesel engine and shouted, "good luck!" until she was out of sight.

At the dockyards, everyone was working hard, but the fires were intense and were difficult to put out, "it must be the fuel," said Shiori, "it's probably what's keeping the fire going."

"Which is why we need that water now more than ever," groaned the Man in the Suit, "oh please Laura hurry, and for that matter, where is the fire bargade?!"

"If it's water you need sir!" Shamus' Driver shouted, "why don't you use the water in Shamus' tender?"

"NO!" snapped Shamus, "I need the water!"

"No you don't," Luke snapped back, "you're just sitting in that siding doing nothing. Now shut up!" Once again, Shamus subsided into silence.

"It's worth a try," said the Man in the Suit, then he shouted, "get the pump and hoses out!"

Nerine, Mayumi and Kareha ran to the storage shed to get those things while Shamus' crew went up onto the tender to open up the filler cap, but found that they couldn't open it. Sia climbed up and tried to get it open, but nearly fell off the tender.

"The water must've spilled when we crashed," groaned Shamus' fireman, "thus causing the filler cab to be frozen solid."

"If only I knew how to use magic," groaned Sia, "then maybe I could blast the filler cap off...wait a second...RINA!" she shouted.

Luckily Nerine, Mayumi and Kareha had returned with the pump and hoses. Sia explained about the filler cap, "alright, just give me a second...stand back everyone!"

Sia and Shamus' crew jumped down from the tender. Nerine focused her powers and started glowing bright red.

"Normally I don't allow anyone to do this on my railway," said the Man in the Suit, "but considering this is an emergency, I'll let it go this one time." Shamus protested, but it did no good, Nerine's light would not dive down.

Shamus quickly his eyes as Nerine fired a lightning attack into the sky - moments later, it came back down and struck the filler cap, blasting it right off. She then climbed up the tender and looked, "there's enough to fight a small portion of the fire. Pass me the hose Mayumi!"

"One hose coming up!" she shouted and tossed one end to Nerine.

Kareha attached the other end of the hose to the pump while Nerine placed the hose inside the tender. Mayumi attached another hose to the other end of the pump, then passed it to some workmen. Then together, Mayumi and Kareha pumped the water out of Shamus' tender and out towards the fire. It worked, but not for long, the flames were getting bigger and worst still, after a few minutes, the tender was completely empty.

"I guess there wasn't that much," groaned Nerine.

Laura was still a long distance away and the sand was gone too, so they had no way of fighting the fire...or so they thought. From out of nowhere, a jet stream of water was shot right at the fire.

"Where is that water coming from?" Rin asked in surprise, "did the fire bargade arrive?"

"It's not the fire bargade Rin," said Asa, "just look towards the water."

Rin and the others looked and saw the water was being fired out of a special fire fighting cannon...on a Tugboat of all things, "I could see this from my dock!" called the Tugboat, "but I wasn't expecting to see this! Don't worry though, I won't give up till the fire is out!"

The Man in the Suit smiled, "I'm glad to see Captain Jay is willing to help."

"Who?" Primula asked curiously.

"Captain Jay is an old friend of mine, he's the manager of the 'J' tugs that work around our dockyards," the Man in the Suit explained. Suddenly they heard a loud bang from close by.

"As if we didn't have enough problems," groaned Courtney.

"Why? What happened?"

"Well sir, there was a small explosion coming from one of the tankers!"

Courtney was right, the fire was now reaching the fuel and oil tankers. Asa was now looking more worried than ever, she knew that if those trucks exploded, they might take the whole dockyard away.

She didn't want to see her friends get hurt, so she ran over to Luke and climbed into his cab, "what are you doing?" Luke's Driver asked.

"Saving my friends," she cried, "we need to move these trucks out of here before anyone gets hurt."

"Agreed," said Luke, who was just as worried as Asa. Since meeting the engines, Asa and all her friends have learned how to operate the engines. She grabbed the throttle and opened it, then slowly but surely, Luke started rolling towards the flaming tankers.

"Don't be a hero Luke!" cried Big Mac, "stay away from those trucks!"

But Luke, Asa and even Luke's Driver didn't listen as they buffered up to the line of tankers and started to push.

"These tankers could blow any minute Ms. Shigure," said the Driver, "so get out now while you have a chance, I'll take Luke and the train away."

"I won't," Asa said in protest, "not as long as my friends are in danger, I'm staying to make sure they are safely out of harm's way." The Driver conceded, there was no way he could change Asa's mind, so he said nothing more.

At last, the familar sound of sirens could be heard and the fire bargade arrived, bumping over a few lines before stopping, "it's about time you showed up," said Itsuki, "you need to help Luke!"

The fire cheif looked over to the train, "Get those trucks out of here!" he shouted, "we won't able to put those out!"

"Be careful Asa!" Rin called to her.

"I will," she called back, then she winked at him, "it's thanks to you that I have the courage to do this! Thank you Rin!" Luke's engine roared and he pushed the train faster and faster, away from the dockyards.

At the same time, Laura finally arrived with the tankers and the other trucks full of sand.

Everyone wasted no time, the steam engines gave up all the water they had and using the pumps, their friends empted their tanks (jn Li's Case), tenders and even the tankers while others poured sand onto the flaming oil. The fire bargade was using all the water they had, same with Jaden the Tugboat.

"It's no good," cried the fire cheif, "the fire's too intense, everybody fall back! There's nothing we can do!"

But Jadan was not ready to give up just yet, "don't give up!" he shouted, "we have to keep trying!"

"He's right!" cried Mayumi, "it may be the only way to save the docks."

The fire cheif sighed happily, "alright, let's keep going!" And good thing they did too. Although the fire was tough to put out, they kept on fighting it until at last they heard the fire cheif shout out, "we're winning, the flames are almost out!"

Meanwhile on the Transfer Point line, Luke was still pushing his dangerous cargo in front of him, far off from the yards.

"Alright this is good enough," said Asa, "no one's going to get hurt when these go off." The Driver applied the brakes and slowed Luke down, the trucks rolled on ahead, then very quickly, Asa opened the reserver.

"Hurry!" Luke called, "they're going to blow any second!"

They had barely gotten away when suddenly...BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOMMMMM! The noise echoed everywhere and reached the dockyards where everyone could hear.

"Oh no!" shouted Li, "that explosion sounded like it was coming from Luke's direction!"

"No...ASA!" Rin shouted as he looked to the direction of the smoke, coming right from the spot where the trucks had blown.

"Don't stop now!" cried the fire cheif, "once the fire is out, we'll go find your friends!"

It took a grand total of three and a half hours of tough fire fighting, but at last the flames started going out until at last, they had _finally_ been put out. The fire bargade sprayed a little more water onto the patches of oil and fuel, just to make sure that the flames would not get a chance to start up again.

There was a lot of damage that had been caused to the dockyards, there was soot, cinders and ashes all over the place. Pieces of blown apart trucks were laying on the ground and the remaining trucks were still on the rails, but they now looked like flatbeds.

The Man in the Suit was in complete shock, but he was still cross at Shamus. He stormed over to the green engine, who still didn't look ashamed, "Ah...whoops," he said meekily.

The Man in the Suit shook his head, "I am not pleased with you Shamus, your reckless actions could've blown the entire dockyards away. Should you misbehave again, I will cut off that funnel of yours and give you a _suitable_ punishment, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," said Shamus. Abashed, he went silent at once.

_**Happy New Year!**_

Another Tugboat named Joey was brought over to the dockyards and using his special crane, he lifted a grumbling and shivering Rick back onto the dockside. After getting his tender filled up with water, Big Mac moved all the burnt trucks out of the way. While all this was going on though, there was no sign of Luke, his Driver or Asa.

"They sure were brave taking a big risk like that to save all of us from those burning trucks," said the Man in the Suit. He turned towards Li, "once your tanks have been filled up, I want you to go down the line and look for them."

"Yes sir," said Li.

"I do hope they're okay," Rin said unhappily, "Cause if anything's happen to Asa..." he couldn't finish what he was saying as tears poured down from his eyes.

At last, Li's tanks were finally full and he was ready to go to the Transfer Point line, but he had no need to do that.

TOOT! TOOT!

A diesel horn could be heard in the distance and the familar sound of a motor was getting closer to the dockyards. After a few moments, a familar shape came purring into the yards, covered in soot from front to end, "Luke!" shouted the engines. His Driver leaned out of the cab and waved for a bit, then a familar green haired girl leaned out of the window, waving happily, "Asa!" her friends shouted.

"What happened to you Luke?" Courtney asked as the diesel shunter pulled up alongside, "You're a mess."

"We pushed the burning trucks as far as we could," he explained, "then we all decided to back away from them and good thing too, cause moments after backing away, the trucks blew up."

"And I thought fireworks were loud," said Asa as she climbed down from the cab.

No sooner had she stepped down then she felt someone wrap their arms around her and that someone was Rin, "I'm glad you're okay Asa, you had me worried there for a while."

"Yeah sorry about that Rin, but I had to do what I had to do. I didn't want to see you or any of our friends get hurt."

"I know that, I'd do the same," Asa just smiled and wrapped her arms around Rin, "you are one brave girl, but I want you to promise me that you won't take dangerous risks like that again...unless it's in an emergency."

"Okay Rin, I promise...love," she said with her cute giggle. Rin blushed a bright shade of red, but smiled at his girlfriend.

The Man in the Suit stepped up to Luke's front end and thanked him, then he thanked Luke's Driver before going to speak to Asa, "your boyfriend said it best, you are a brave girl. Not many people would take such dangerous risks, especially when dealing with burning oil and fuel, so thank you for helping to save everyone and from turning this disaster into something worse. The railway owes a great deal to you and all your friends too, so thank you, all of you for your help."

"Hey you know us," said Sia, "we're always glad to help in any situtation." All the girls and the boys nodded in agreement.

Following the clean-up, Courtney took Rick back to the Warehouse District while Big Mac hauled Shamus back to the sheds. The Man in the Suit was waiting for them, "I am pleased with every engine's effort tonight...except for you Shamus!" he snapped at the green tender engine, "for your actions, I will leave you in the sheds and I'll have another engine work in your place."

"But sir..."

"No buts, if you didn't want to be locked in the sheds again, then you shouldn't have done what you did. I sure hope for the new year, you make a resolution to be on your best behaviour, otherwise...well, you know what I'll do to you."

Shamus was going to say, "I'll think about it," but instead said; "Yes sir, I do know."

And on that note, Big Mac shunted Shamus into a lonely part of the shed, away from the other engines, before going back to work.

Later that evening, all the engine's friends were gathered at Drew's house for the new year's party, even Ms. Ama came by to join in on the party. Of course she had heard of what her daughter did earlier that evening, "are you okay Asa? You didn't get hurt, did you?" she asked.

"I'm okay mom, I didn't get hurt, we got away from the flaming trucks just in time," she answered.

"You know what Asa," Rin piped up, "I think for your new year's resolution, you should promise to be more careful."

"Oh very funny Rin," she giggled as she slapped him on the back and knocking him down to the ground, "maybe you should do the same. I can't count how many times you've gotten yourself in trouble over the year."

"I haven't gotten myself into that much trouble," he said in protest.

"You could've fooled me," she giggled and so did Ms. Ama and even Rin had to laugh.

While everyone else talked, Kaede stood outside of the house and looked up to the stars. Primula walked outside to see how she was doing, "what are you doing out here all alone Kaede?"

"Well Rimu, I'm just looking up to the stars and thinking."

"About what?"

"Lots of stuff. I've been thinking all the good times we've shared during the year and also about the _not_ so great moments too. We sure have had a lot of adventures this year haven't we?"

"Yes we have, but still..."

"Still what?"

"I feel sad for you Kaede, you were hoping that Rin would chose you to be his girlfriend, and yet he chose Asa."

"Well you shouldn't feel sad for me, I'm okay with Rin's decision like I told you before. I know that someday soon, I'll find my true love, till then, I'll keep living my life to the fullest, like I always do," she said with a smile on her face, "now let's go back inside and join in on the party."

"Sure Kaede," Primula smiled and followed the orange haired girl back into the house.

At the engine sheds, Courtney was talking with the other engines, "it's amazing how much our line has changed since the extensions were built and when you all came here. Personally, I'm glad you all came, I feel honored to be sharing a shed with such wonderful engines."

"Well we feel honored to be sharing the same shed with you Courtney," said Laura, "we wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

"True that," agreed Li, "and despite the minor incidents we had, we've had a pretty good year."

"Yes," said Big Mac in agreement, "for many of us, we were spared from a horrible fate like rusting away in a scrap yard and given a chance to pull both passengers and goods trains."

"It makes me proud to be a Little Tokyo Engine," said Luke, "and to continue being a Little Tokyo Engine for many more years."

"Well said Luke," smiled Courtney.

At around Eleven Fifty, their friends came by the sheds, "What are you all doing here?" Luke asked in surprise.

"To see all of you of course," Sia answered, "we would like to welcome in the new year with you engines."

And till Eleven fifty nine, they all chatted about some of the adventures they've had over the year. Then: "Six! Five! Four" Everyone was shouting this, which included the Man in the Suit, who had arrived minutes ago, "Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!"

The engines whistled and honked their air horns in unison while their friends cheered loudly.

The Man in the Suit just smiled at this scene, "we've had quite a few surprises over the last year," he was saying, "and I have a strong feeling that this new year will bring more surprises and possibly more new friends too. I love this life."

"So do we," everyone shouted in unison.

Kaede stepped out of the sheds for a moment and looked out to the ocean, wondering if her true love would come to Tokyo this new year, "Guess I'll have to wait and see," she thought happily to herself before turning back towards the sheds.

As for Shamus, he was locked up in the sheds and wasn't to come out for a long time. Maybe now he'll learn not to be so foolish or stupid again. Well, we'll have to wait and see to find out, won't we?

_**The End!**_


	28. Kaede and the Little Tokyo Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 28**_

_**Kaede and the Little Tokyo Engines**_

_**Based on the Original (2010) Volume by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Version #2-Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_As recalled in 'Fire Fighting Engines', Shamus had caused a near __catastrophe at the Dockyards on New Year's Eve and because of that, he was shunted away into the sheds until he could be trusted again. Because he was locked up in the sheds, the Man in the Suit borrowed a class 40 diesel from the Other Railway. This engine however was a bit of a rude fella at first, but thanks to our orange haired friend, the diesel became a much better engine and...well, I can't reveal anymore, otherwise the surprise will be ruined._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Alistor Goes Threw the Wall

-Kaede's Night Out with Alistor

-Fireblocks

-Kaede & Alistor Save the Day

_**Alistor Goes Threw the Wall**_

The holidays came and went and soon it was time for Kaede, Rin and their friends to return back to school. On the first day of school, it was quite chilly as Rin, Kaede and even Primula were getting ready to go. Before they walked out though, Rin asked Kaede a question, "Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked kindly.

"No, I got everything..." she checked to make sure. A moment later, she gasped, "Oh no, I forgot my lunch." She turned and ran back to the kitchen - she returned moments later with her lunch all wrapped up in a green clothe, "I'm sorry Rin, I..."

"It's okay Kaede," he said kindly to her, "it can happen from time to time and to anyone."

"Yeah I guess it could," Kaede said with her smile showing.

"I'm ready to go," Primula piped up.

"Alright then, we better get going," said Rin, "otherwise we're going to be late for our first day of school."

That being said, the three teenagers walked out of the house and down the pathway towards the street, where they met up with Sia, Nerine and Asa, "you're almost running late today," Asa giggled, "I'm guessing Rin was sleeping in again."

Rin shot a firm look, but couldn't help but chuckle.

Soon, all six teenagers were walking along to school together, although some of them could really feel the cold weather that morning, "brr, it's freezing out here," Sia shivered, "and they said this jacket is the best to keep you warm."

"Just try thinking about warm thoughts," Nerine said wisely, "that will get your mind off the cold."

"Alright, I'll give it a try," and so Sia started thinking up warm thoughts, "soup...the beach...swimming...brr," she shivered, "swimming just reminded me how cold it is."

"I'm guessing you guys don't get a lot of snow in the realm of the gods, am I right?" Rin asked.

"Oh we get snow Rin, but it's never usually this cold."

"Look," Primula piped up as they reached the crossroads leading to the Little Tokyo Railroad. Everyone stopped and looked to see both Rick and one of the J Tugs, Joey the Crane, lifting a very _big _engine off the ship that sat next to the nearly repaired dockside.

"That must be the engine the Man in the Suit's brought in to work in Shamus' place," said Rin.

"And here I thought Laura was one of the biggest engines we've ever seen," said Sia, "this one looks even longer than she is."

The engine that was being lifted out was painted in black paint and had a yellow back and front end. This engine also came with lots of wheels and had a slightly curved roof.

Rick was tugging hard to lift the heavy engine out, "Careful as you go Rick!" called Joey from below, "we don't need this engine going for a swim!"

"I wish it was," Rick muttered, but shivered, remembering his dip on New Years.

"Stop shaking up there you old rusty pile of scrap," snapped the visitor, "you're making me sick here."

"Oh I'll give you a reason to be sick!" Rick snapped.

"Rick!" snapped Joey, "stop shouting and keep lifting slowly!"

"Geez, that one engine's just as rude as Shamus," said Asa as she and the others watched the operation, "we can only hope that perhaps this engine won't cause too much trouble like Shamus did."

Within minutes, the big Diesel engine was finally on the rails. Rick and Joey sighed with relief, but they got no thanks from the visitor. Courtney arrived with her goods train, "oh geez it's like everywhere I go, I always see a steaming pile of scrap still in operation."

"Excuse me?" Courtney asked with a raised eyebrow, she sounded offended by this engine.

"You steaming engines should be in the scrap pile, not running about on a..." he was cut off by the sounds of another diesel engine. It was Luke, coming in with empty trucks, "oh and this is just great, old tin cans are running on the rails of this railroad too. Why can't these railroads ever get real engines?"

"We _are_ real engines," Courtney said firmly, "besides, it shouldn't matter if steam or diesel."

"Quite right Courtney," agreed Luke, "we're all useful no matter what we are. Anyways, the Man in the Suit, like so many others, does his best to save us and give us a second chance."

"A chance you should never have been given if you ask me," the big diesel sniffed rudely.

"Well no one was asking you," Courtney said angerily, "now why don't you get out of our dockyards and go speak to the Man in the Suit, I'm sure he's got a job for you."

"Fine, I don't want my reputation to be ruined by you types anyways," and with that, the big diesel rumbled away.

"And we thought that Shamus was rude," Courtney whispered to Luke, "This big engine makes him look like a nice engine, which he is not." Luke silently agreed.

Next, it was their friends who were going to meet the big diesel. After getting his orders, he rumbled off to collect some empty trucks, then after being coupled up, he rumbled away from the yards. Kaede, Rin and their friends all waved to the new comer and shouted "Welcome to Tokyo!" But the diesel, being who he was, blasted his air horn loudly and made most of them jump.

"Don't give me a headache!" he shouted at them and rumbled off into the distance.

"How rude!" said Sia and Nerine in unison.

At around lunchtime, they talked about the new engine, "I've met some rude engines before," Sia was saying, "but I think that engine now claims the title of the rudest engine I've ever met."

"Are you all talking about that new diesel?" Mayumi asked as she walked over towards them.

"Yes we are," Primula answered, "he scared all of us just because we were waving to him, and we heard him shouting at the Little Tokyo engines."

"And like I was saying," Sia added, "he's one of the rudest engines to ever come to Tokyo."

"He does have a name, from what I heard from Melissa and Drew. The big diesel is called 'Alistor', he's come all the way from the Other Railway in England and from what I've been told, this engine is just like most of the engines on that railway, very rude to anyone they meet."

"Well personally, I hope this engine doesn't cause trouble for the Man in the Suit like Shamus does." Everyone silently agreed with Rin.

A little later that afternoon after the long school day was done for the day, Kaede, Primula and Rin were walking along to the grocery store together. On their way there, they decided to stop by the Workshops to have a little chat with Masuko as he waited for a goods train to come in.

Their conversation was cut short by a loud diesel horn in the distance, which didn't sound like either Luke or Laura's horn.

"Oh no, here we go again," groaned Masuko, "I'm sure we're never going to hear the end of it about how we're so unreliable when he gets here."

But that wasn't going to happen as everyone was due to find out. Alistor roared into view moments later, his Driver went to apply the brakes, but much to his horror, they wouldn't work.

"What are you waiting for Idiot? Apply my brakes!" Alistor barked.

"What do you think I'm trying to do!" he shouted frantically, "your brakes have failed! I can't stop you!" He reduced speed, but without the brakes, there was no chance of stopping.

Worst still, they were now rolling into the shops and heading towards the bumper post. This, like buffers, help stop trains from crashing.

"Stop! Stop!" cried Alistor.

It was no use, they couldn't stop. All Alistor could do now was to shut his eyes and brace himself for the impact, "this is going to be loud!" groaned Primula and covered her ears.

Alistor went crashing into the bumper post, demolishing it to pieces, then he rolled along on the shop floor. Workers had to run to get away from him, thankfully they got away just in time. Then...horrors! Alistor was now heading to the wall. On the other side of the wall is a steep hill leading down to busy city streets. Alistor kept his eyes shut as the big black diesel went smashing into the wall, bricks went flying everywhere.

Thankfully though, Alistor didn't fall to the ground below. He opened one eye and looked to see himself hanging halfway out the building and just above the street. All that was supporting the big diesel now was the broken wall and a telephone pole.

"I always said your brakes were useless," groaned the Driver, "but I guess our controller just doesn't listen to us."

Within minutes, Luke and Big Mac were sent to help the Big Diesel back onto the rails. Using a strong chain, the two engines heaved and hauled until they finally had Alistor back onto the solid steel rails again. After he was back on the tracks, the workmen checked him all over, "your brakes definetly failed," one of them said, "you'll have to stay here till we fix them."

"And your front end too," added Ken as he inspected the damaged front end of Alistor.

The Big Diesel grunted under his breath, it was hard to tell what he was saying.

After Masuko told them that no one had been hurt and that the situation was under control, Kaede, Primula and Rin continued on to the grocery store where they got what they needed and returned back to their house.

Later that evening, they told the entire story to Drew and Melissa, who was staying an extra week in Tokyo before going home.

"Well he had it coming to him when you think about," Drew said after he heard the whole story, "he was insulting everyone on the railway by calling them old fashioned and for scaring people too."

"So in a way, he did get what was coming to him," said Rin, "or should I say...in front of him?"

Mostly everyone burst into laughter, except for Kaede, she believed that the diesel didn't deserve to be teased and something inside her told her that maybe this diesel wasn't completely bad and so she decided that she'd...but I must say no more, or I'll spoil the next story.

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by the real life event that occured on January 24th 1948. Santa Fe's El Capitian train came into the station, but wouldn't stop, (reasons why are still unknown to this day). It bumped threw the bumper post, rolled along threw the parking lot and threw the wall. Like in the story, the leading diesel didn't fall down to Aliso Street, it was hanging just above it thanks to the support of a telephone pole close to the wall. Thankfully nobody was hurt in this accident.

_**Kaede's Night Out with Alistor**_

"We're now one engine short with Alistor in the workshops," Courtney was saying to her friends early the next morning, "but it's only for a day or two, until his repairs are complete. You know though, I've never known something like this to happen."

"I've heard of something like that happening once before with a Santa Fe Passenger train," said Drew.

"Fine choice the Man in the Suit brought in to work in my place," snickered Shamus from his berth in the shed, "instead of having a reliable engine like myself pull the trains, he brings in a motor oil traitor who breaks the wall."

"Oh stow it!" snapped Luke, "it could've happened to any engine, like Drew was just saying."

"Whatever, the point is that silly engine got what was coming to him. I heard of some of the stuff he said and while I might agree with some of the stuff he said, I don't agree with what he said about steam engine."

"At least there's some honor in you Shamus," Courtney said. Shamus just sniffed and looked away.

"I don't think you should be making fun of Alistor," Kaede piped up, which got everyone to look over to her. "Maybe he's not as bad as everyone thinks. I can't explain why, but I got this feeling that maybe there's a reason as to why Alistor's been acting the way he has been."

"Yeah, perhaps he's just as bad as some of those Other Railway engines," said Sia.

"But suppose he's not bad, maybe he's just upset about being in a new place or maybe something upset him before he came here."

"Kaede may have a point there," said Drew, "I mean we've seen that with other engines in the past. After all, not every bad mannered engine stays as a bad mannered engine forever."

"What about Shamus?" Sia asked, "he was a bad mannered engine before and he still is now," Sia looked over to Shamus, who shot her a dirty angry look.

"Courtney was bad mannered for a long time," Primula piped up, "yet she became a much better engine."

"Mostly thanks to all of you and Thomas," Courtney said quietly.

"I believe that if Alistor had a friend to talk to, maybe he can explain why he's the way he is and maybe then he won't be so horrid anymore," said Kaede.

"Maybe so," said Rin, "but who'd want to talk to him?"

Kaede already had an answer to that question. She knew who was going to talk to Alistor and that someone was...her!

Later that evening, Kaede told Primula and Rin that she was going out for a sleepover, but she never did tell them of where she was going excatly, "have a good time at...ah, wherever you're going," Primula called to her as she walked away from the house. For her sleepover that night, she had a small pillow and a blanket stuffed into a bag.

It wasn't long before she finally reached the Warehouse District shops, at around the time the manager was leaving.

"Sorry Ms. Fuyou, but we're closing up for the night, there are no more trains coming in and everyone in there is fast asleep."

"I understand that, but I'm wondering, can I stay in the shops tonight? There's a friend in there I want to talk to."

The District Manager was a little surprised and confused by this request, but he agreed to allow Kaede to spend the night in the shops, "it's not really comfortable in there though," he said.

"It's okay, I brought a blanket and a pillow."

"Well alright then, have a good night." Once Kaede was inside the shops, the manager locked the doors.

Kaede grabbed a flashlight out of her bag, then she started walking around looking for the engine she was looking for. She soon found Alistor sitting in a siding where he had been the entire time since his accident, the workmen had been working hard to get him ready for his return back to the Little Tokyo Railroad. At first, Kaede looked up at the big diesel with a worried look upon her face, but soon she had built up her courage and walked up to the front of the diesel.

"What are you doing here?" Alistor snarled at Kaede, "this is no place for young girls like you!"

The big booming voice nearly scared Kaede, but she didn't leave, "I'm here to spend the night with you," she answered, "if that's okay with you."

For a while, there was complete silence, apart from the squeaking mouse that ran across the floor. Finally, Alistor broke the silence in the workshop, "Fine, you can stay!" he sniffed angerily, "just stay out of my sight and stay quiet!"

"Ah...sure Alistor," and with that, Kaede walked up to the left side of Alistor and climbed up the ladder to his cab. She sat up her blanket and pillow, then she opened one of Alistor's side windows.

After that, neither one of them said a single word and there was no one else to talk to, Ken was in another part of the shop along with Masuko. Finally after a while, Kaede finally broke the silence, "are you enjoying your stay here so far?"

"I told you to stay quiet!" snapped the big diesel crossly.

"Sorry, I was just trying to be friendly."

Alistor snarled under his breath, "Why are you here anyways? Did those silly engines send you here to bug me? Am I right? Uh you know what, never mind, I don't want to know!"

"Well in answer to your question, I came here because I wanted to talk to you and meet you. After all, we didn't have a proper meeting before. My name is Kaede by the way."

The diesel snarled under his breath before saying, "my name is Alistor," he said.

"Well it's nice to meet you Alistor," Kaede said sweetly. "Is it true that you've come all the way from the Other Railway."

"Yes," he muttered.

"You know, Luke came from the Other Railway..."

"Yes I know about him," Alistor interupted, "I know all about him and his little 'family' as he calls them. I often met them when I first started off on the Other Railway."

"Can I ask you something? Why are you so horrid to the other engines? They've never done anything bad to you."

Alistor was silent, he didn't say a single word for a whole minute. Then he finally broke the silence by answering her question, "I've been told to be rude to older engines. It's the modern way on the Other Railway, we should never speak to outdated and useless engines like them. They deserve no respect and deserve a one way trip to the smelter's yard and to never return."

"Do you believe that?" Kaede asked curiously.

"Well of course I do, I..." but Alistor stopped talking. Kaede was wondering why he had stopped, then she heard his reply, "No, no I do not!"

"You don't believe that?" Kaede gasped, she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

Alistor was quiet again, but soon broke the silence, "yes you heard me correctly, I don't like treating others like that and I think it's down right disgraceful, but I cannot go aganist the rules of the engines on the Other Railway. If you're nice to an older engine or anyone else, then you're of no use anymore and you're only purpose left is to be broken down for scrap."

"That's just terrible. Being kind to others means that you'll have plenty of friends, you'll get the work done with no trouble and if you ever need help, then someone will be there to help you out."

"Something your No. 1621, Shamus doesn't know, am I right?"

"That's right," Kaede sighed unhappily, "Shamus believes that he's better than everyone else and so he looks down on them and calls them useless, even us girls. I have never seen such a bad mannered engine in all my life," then she asked, "Alistor, was there ever an older engine you used to look up to and maybe think of them as your hero?"

Alistor went back into silence, but only for a few seconds, "Well there was one engine that I often thought of as a hero to me. A Diesel Hydraulic engine named Western Champion, an engine who lived up to his name too, but considering he was an older engine, I was not allowed to talk to him, well...without saying how useless he is. There was a day though when he came up to speak to me..."

" 'I know these other engines are all telling you to hate older engines, but you should go with what you think is right. When you do, then you too might become a champion engine like me.' "

"I never saw that engine again after that, and even though I was told to hate older engines and never speak to them, I never forgot his wise words."

"Maybe Western Champion has a point," Kaede piped up, "maybe you shouldn't listen to what those engines say. The only one you should ever listen to is yourself. Just like I did tonight." Shortly after that, Kaede went off to sleep.

Alistor however, did not fall asleep, not just yet anyways, "hmm, maybe this girl's got a point. It would be nice to be...well nice," he thought to himself. Shortly afterwords, Alistor closed his eyes and went to sleep, but with still alot to think about, especially after his talk with Kaede.

_**Fireblocks**_

Kaede left the workshops early the next morning after the Manager opened the doors. Before leaving though, she thanked the manager for allowing her to spend the night there, "well you're welcome young lady, but don't expect this to happen again. For security reasons, we can't have people sleeping overnight, so this is a one time thing okay?"

"Okay sir I understand, I just wanted to talk to the visiting engine and I did..." she turned back to face Alistor, "I hope we can talk again soon Alistor, I really enjoyed getting to know you."

"Yeah, same here," the big diesel muttered.

Kaede then left and the workmen arrived to continue their repair work on both the visitor and on the wall. One workman was surprised at the condition of the brakes, "I've heard of cutting back, but this is just plain ridiculous. These brakes look like they were pulled out of a pile of scrap and installed in there."

Alistor hadn't heard a single word. The conversations he had with Kaede the night before were still playing on his mind, "what does she know? She's not an engine like me. On a railway like mine, there is no time and no place for being nice...then again," he thought, "she did sound like she knows what she's talking about. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try to be nice, I just hope my brothers and sisters hear nothing of this."

It took almost another day, but at last, Alistor's repairs were finally done.

"There you are," said one of the workmen, "we've repaired your brakes, hopefully now you won't be crashing into anymore walls."

"Thank you," smiled Alistor, which took the workmen by surprise. Remembering what they had heard about this diesel on his first day, they thought he was just as bad mannered as Shamus. After the shock wore off, they said 'you're welcome' just as the manager arrived.

"There is a goods train that is due to go back to the yards of the Little Tokyo Railroad. I would like you to take the train back there and then go to the sheds, the Man in the Suit will be there to talk to you."

"Understood sir," said Alistor kindly.

Soon his Driver had him coupled up to the long train of trucks, then with a toot of his horn, Alistor rolled backwards out of the warehouse district. One of the advantages of these diesel engines is that they have two cabs, one in the front and the other in the back. This meant that the engine didn't have to turned around at the end of the run.

The run was smooth and the shunting was even smoother, much to the relief of the trucks, "I thought he would bump us like he did before," they whispered to each other, "yet he was gentle. It was a pleasure to go out with him."

Alistor heard the comment and just smiled, "no angry shouting and no name calling, maybe this 'being nice' stuff isn't so bad."

The true test of his attitude was going to come up as he was shunted into the sheds. The Man in the Suit wasn't there just yet, but Luke, Li and Courtney were all in there waiting for their own jobs while Shamus sat in his lonely spot in the sheds. Li, Luke and Courtney stared at Alistor with firm looks.

"I can understand why you're looking at me like that," he said as calmly as he could, "I was rude to all of you when I first arrived here on your railway and I do apologize for that. I know you probably won't forgive me at first, but I promise you that I will try to be a better engine while working and when talking to you. I do not wish to make enemies while I'm here, I rather make friends with such...unique engines."

There was a moment of pause, the engines weren't expecting to hear all that.

"Don't believe him," sneered Shamus, "he's just lying, the motor oil traitor!"

Courtney stared at Alistor, "he means what he says," she said, "I can see it in his eyes and on his face too. Alistor, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we will forgive you, as long as you promise not to be so rude to us again and please don't call us useless again."

"Don't worry, I won't say any of that," he said seriously.

"Good to hear you say that Alistor," said a voice coming from the doorway. It was the Man in the Suit, once again wearing a big jacket and black boots, "I was wondering if I was going to have a serious talk with you about your attitude, but after hearing you apologize to my engines and promising to be good, I don't think I need to say a word...unless you give me a reason to."

"I'll be good sir, I promise."

"Very well then. Now for the jobs today, since Shamus is still going to be locked up in the sheds for a while, I want you Alistor to take loaded trucks from the docks and back to the District."

"Make sure you don't break the wall again," snickered Shamus, but was told to be quiet by Li.

"Courtney will take the passengers to the Transfer Point line and Luke, I want you to do some shunting around the dockyards. Li, I will be back later with a job for you." That being said, the Man in the Suit turned and walked away.

Alistor soon began working and soon found it was quite enjoyable, instead of shouting at people to be quiet, he would honk a greeting to them and he would get a wave back. When he passed other engines, Alistor tooted a greeting to them and they greeted him back. The trucks also liked him because he was being gentle and not bumping them.

"Much better than Shamus," they often said to each other.

Alistor just smiled, "That Kaede girl was right, being nice is better than being nasty."

A little later at the crossroads, Li was telling Rin and Asa about Alistor, "it's as if the nasty attitude he had from before was left behind in Ken and Masuko's workshop and became a new engine," he was saying, "but I have no idea what changed him."

"Oh I think I know," said Rin, "Kaede said she went on a sleepover, but I bet she went to the workshops to speak with Alistor."

"That sounds like our Kaede alright," said Asa, "still, I would like to know just what she actually said to him."

Whilst they were talking, Alistor was rattling along the mainline with a loaded coal train, but since he was a bigger engine and could carry more than some of the other engines, so he took the fuel train too. Remembering what he heard about Shamus' near disaster on New Year's eve, Alistor was taking great with his delicate load.

"No need for fireworks today, no need for fireworks today," he thought to himself.

At first, all was going smoothly, but after leaving the busy city district, Alistor began to feel a little warm on his brakeblocks, "must be using them too hard," he thought. But soon, the warm feeling on his brakeblocks began to feel hotter and hotter as if they were on fire.

"Ohh! Ow!" cried Alistor, "I think something's on fire!"

His Driver leaned out the cab window and looked, "oh good glory, this can't be happening!"

Something _was_ on fire and it was Alistor's blockblocks, smoke was raising from them and on occassion, the Driver would see flames. Reacting quickly, the Driver applied the brakes and stopped the train, then he ran down and uncoupled Alistor from the train, "last thing we need is to cause a disaster out here!" he shouted.

He returned to the cab and drove Alistor towards a nearby siding where he raised the alarm by calling the fire bargade and phoning the Man in the Suit to cancel other trains on that section of line.

Within minutes, the fire bargade arrived, "first that steamer and now this?" groaned one of the fireman, "as if this railway didn't have enough problems with fires already!"

"Stay focused on the job!" the fire cheif shouted, "get the hose connected to the pump! We'll handle the other end of the hose!"

It didn't take too long to put out the fire and much to the relief of his Driver, there was little damage caused to the brakeblocks, but that was the least of concerns to one of the firemen. He had noticed the tankers on the train, "what are you trying to do?!" he shouted angerily at Alistor, "Are you trying to send this railway up in flames like the steamer did?!"

"No I wasn't, it was my brakeblocks, they..."

"We will be reporting this to your controller. In my view, you and that steamer are nothing but trouble and a danger to our city!" Still fuming, the firefighter went back to his fire engine.

Very carefully, Alistor was recoupled to his train and rumbled away back to the yards, but there was no sign of the Man in the Suit there.

"First my brakes fail, then I crashed into a wall and now this," groaned Alistor, "if I was on the Other Railway, I'd never hear the end of it from our controller or the others."

Alistor had to go back to the sheds to wait till the Man in the Suit arrived. Shamus didn't help matters at all, he taunted and teased Alistor about his incidents, "that's why steamers are better than you stupid diesels," he said rudely.

Finally the Man in the Suit arrived, "I'm really sorry sir, I wasn't trying to cause trouble or anything," Alistor said sadly.

"It's alright Alistor, I know this wasn't your fault, this kind of thing could happen to any engine, anywhere. Luckily, no damage was caused and your driver was able to get you away from the train, so there's no need to blame you for anything. I am pleased with the progress you've been making and once your brakeblocks have been checked and replaced, if needed, I want you back at work."

"Yes sir," smiled Alistor and watched the Man in the Suit walk away back to his office.

**Author's Note:**

This story was based on a real life event where a British Railway diesel's brakeblocks had caught fire while in motion. Reasons why they caught fire is unknown, but luckily the fire was put out when the train came a stop and there was no damage caused.

_**Kaede & Alistor Save the Day**_

It was later in the evening when Alistor returned to the Warehouse District and the workmen began inspecting his brakeblocks, "These things are completely worn out," said one of the lead hands, "patch up work is not going to do any good here, we'll have to replace _all_ the brakeblocks."

"This is going to be a long night," groaned one of the workmen.

And indeed he was right, it was going to be a long night. It took the entire evening and up to the early morning hours of the next day to replace all of Alistor's worn out brakeblocks and give him new ones. After their work was done, Alistor's Driver gave him a little test run to see if they would work and sure enough, they did.

"Well that makes all the work worth it," said another workmen before letting out a big yawn.

"Now that you got your brakeblocks, you won't have a problem with them catching on fire or failing on you again," said the workshop manager, "now you can go back to work."

"Right," Alistor smiled, "Thank you, all of you, I know I took up your entire evening and cost you some sleep, but I really appreciate all you've done for me."

"Well you're welcome Alistor," said another workmen, "just hearing you thank us makes the job worth it."

Meanwhile in his office, the Man in the Suit was on the phone with the Other Railway Controller. He didn't sound too happy about hearing of Alistor's two incidents, "I had a feeling that stupid engine would make a muddle out of things," he grumbled on the other end of the phone.

"It could happen to any engine sir," the Man in the Suit said calmly on his end of the phone.

"It's still no excuse, he's suppose to do the job perfectly, not mess things up! If he does anything wrong again, then you can keep that worthless piece of scrap. Who knows, maybe you can use him as a storage shed. Good day to you sir," and before the Man in the Suit could say a word, the Other Railway Controller had hung up the phone.

"The Other Railway hasn't been the same since the previous Controller retired from office," sighed the Man in the Suit to himself. "I've heard of perfectionists, but that's going beyond wanting things to be perfect. Almost sounds like the Controller from Oxford, the baka," he muttered under his breath before going back to doing his paperwork.

That afternoon, Courtney was at the Transfer Point Station dropping off passengers. As they switched from Courtney's train to the Japanese High Speed train, Courtney herself got turned around on the 'wye' before going to the other end of the train. On the platform were two shady figures, they had been there ever since Courtney arrived and as she puffed to the other end of the train, she saw that they hadn't moved an inch.

"I don't trust those people," she said nervously.

"What people Courtney?" her Driver asked.

"Those people wearing the big jackets. They were standing in that very spot when we arrived and they haven't moved since and normally people want to keep moving in the wintery conditions, not stand still in the cold."

"There's nothing suspicious about that Courtney. Some people are used to the cold weather and they can wait for long periods of time like it was summer to them."

"Maybe so, but...I still have a bad feeling about those two."

Courtney had every right to worry as she and her crew were due to find out.

Soon her knuckle coupling had coupled onto the coupling of the first coach...that was the signal the two men were waiting for. They started walking, but not towards the coaches, they walked straight towards the cab.

"Can we help you two?" asked the fireman.

"You can help by shutting up," said one of them and pulled out a small black object. His friend pulled one out too and they pointed them at the crew, "we have business with the Tokyo Terrors and we want you to take us there."

"But the Tokyo Terrors are all in jail!" protested the Driver.

"Not all of them, their leader is still free," said the second man, "she wants new members to help her with her plan. Now you will take us to meet her, never mind about the passengers, but leave the coaches coupled up, we don't want anyone getting suspicous."

The crew decided not to argue aganist the men. They made sure the coaches were coupled up, then they left without the passengers.

"What's going on?" they asked in surprise, "we haven't gotten on board yet." They soon got an answer as a small bang was heard from the cab. One of the men had pointed his weapon out the cab and fired as a warning to the passengers. They could now only watch in horror as their train rattled off.

"As for your engine," said the first man, "you better tell her to be quiet. One word and we'll...well, you know what we'll do."

"You heard the man Courtney, not a word," her Driver said anxiously. Courtney understood and remained respectfully silent during the run.

In the yards, Alistor had just finished his shunting and was backing up into a siding. His Driver climbed down and walked away to get something to eat. Alistor was alone, but not for long as two girls came walking up to the crossroads. One of them, Alistor recognized right away, "Well if it isn't my friend Kaede."

"Hello Alistor," she said with a smile on her face, "it's good to see you again."

"And probably in a better mood too, right?"

"Well...yes, but I won't say it like that, I don't want to hurt your feelings."

"Kaede is a very polite person," said Primula, "She's not the type to say anything to upset someone."

"Yes I'm well aware of that, I learned that about her that night in the workshops, just as she learned so much about me."

"So that's where you went," Primula looked over to Kaede, "Why didn't you tell us that you were going there?"

Before Kaede could answer the question, they heard Courtney's whistle in the distance...but it wasn't regular whistling at all. There were short peeps, followed by three long peeps and three short peeps, but then the whistling stopped.

"That's an S.O.S," said Kaede, "Something must be wrong with the train."

Moments later, Courtney came into view with her train and slowed to a stop beyond the station platform, "very good, you've done well, apart from blowing that whistle like that."

"Sorry," groaned Courtney's Driver, he had hoped to get someone's attention, but the plan hadn't work so well.

"Now we'll blow the whistle and get the Terror Queen here," said the second man.

Courtney looked over towards Alistor, "help us," she whimpered. Her whistle went off a few times and then there was silence, "Alistor, help..."

"Not a word!" snapped the first man, pointing his weapon at Courtney's boiler, "one more word out of you and your crew pays the price."

Courtney went silent again, but Alistor wasn't, "Kaede, get into my cab and blow my horn, we have to get the police here." Alistor had been told about the Tokyo Terrors and knew if their Terror Queen showed up, trouble would follow.

Kaede climbed up the stairwell, but couldn't get in, "your doors are locked!" she cried.

"Try my back door, I don't know if that's locked." So Kaede climbed down and walked over to back end, as luck would have it, the door wasn't locked. Normally this would be a bad thing, but in this situation, it was a good thing. Kaede climbed into the cab and Alistor told her of how to work his horn, "now do it!" he said.

Kaede responded by blowing the horn in the same way Courtney had blown her whistle. To keep the shady characters out of Alistor's cab, she had locked the doors, but only after Primula had climbed up into the cab with her.

"Stop them!" shouted the first man, "We can't have the police ruining the Terror Queen's plans, not now!"

The Second man ran towards Alistor and tried to get in, but found all the doors locked, but he wasn't going to give up. He found a metal pole on the ground and was ready to smash open a window, then open the door and take hostages. His plan would've worked, had it not been for Primula, "I don't think so," she said firmly and using her powers, she froze the Man, who fell back onto the ground.

"Good work Rimu," smiled Kaede while she continued blowing the horn.

The first man had to get out of Courtney's cab to see if his friend was alright, he was surprised to see him frozen, then he noticed the pole, "if you want something done, you have to do it yourself!"

He was about to climb up the ladder when he heard sirens coming towards the crossroads and coming fast, "I better get this done quickly." He climbed up the ladder and was going to smash out the window.

"Oh no you don't," Alistor snarled, "Kaede..."

"I know what to do." She blasted the horn loud and long, which scared the man badly and made fall to the ground, just as the police officers arrived.

After much explaining, the men were arrested and placed in the police cars. Sakura was close by, "dart it all, my plans are ruined again, when will they ever stop ruining my schemes," she snarled angerily and ran before she was discovered.

The police thanked Alistor, Kaede and Primula for what they did, "it was Kaede and Alistor who really stopped Sakura's plans...whatever they were," said Primula.

"Well then thank you, both of you, we will make sure these _new_ members join their the old gang, behind bars where they belong."

And with that, the police officers took the criminals away to jail.

Of course, the Other Railway did hear about Alistor's deed and instead of being pleased, he was furious and told the Man in the Suit that he could keep Alistor, "he shouldn't have blasted his horn that loud, it's aganist our rules. I refuse to have something as useless as that thing come back to my railway!" he said angerily over the phone.

The rest of Alistor's stay was uneventful, he got all his jobs done with no trouble and made more friends than he ever had before. Everyone grew fond of the big diesel, but all too soon, it was time for him to go. Before anyone could say good bye to the big diesel, the Man in the Suit walked up to speak to him, "I am pleased with your work Alistor, you have done us proud," he then looked at the diesel with a seirous look, "sadly your controller has...given you away to us."

"I had a feeling he would," Alistor muttered.

"However, I have made a phone call to the Controller of the North Western Railway and as luck would have it, they're in need of an engine on the Main line and I know you'll be the perfect engine to help with their work."

Alistor was at a loss of words, "The North Western...Sir Topham Hatt's Railway?"

"Yes Alistor and that is where you are going, you deserve it after all you've done."

"Oh well...thank you sir, that would be great," the big diesel smiled happily.

"Glad to hear it," smiled the Man in the Suit and backed away so that everyone could have a chance to say goodbye to Alistor. Kaede was the last to come forward, "I want to thank you Kaede, you helped to make me into the engine I am now."

"I'm always glad to help," she smiled, "I knew from the moment I saw you, you weren't a bad engine, I just knew it."

"And you were right. Thank you again, my friend."

As he was being lifted off the ground, thanks to the teamwork of Rick and Joey the Tugboat, Sia and Nerine called out to him, "when you get to Sodor, say hello to our cousins for us!"

"I will!" he called as he was lowered into the hall of the ship.

Shamus returned to working duties shortly after the ship left, I'm sorry to say though that he is still boastful and rough with his trucks. Alistor on the other hand is doing quite well on Sodor, he's never late with his trains and he's made lots of friends, even Gordon, who allows to pull the express whenever he's busy. Alistor is quite happy on Sodor and he often says that he owes his new life and kind attitude to his good friend, Kaede Fuyou, the girl who believed there was some good in him.

_**The End!**_


	29. Toby and the Heritage Festival

**Hello my friends, it's ThomasZoey3000 here with the latest volume of the Railway Series/Shuffle. This idea actually came to me in the Summer of 2010 and was originally going to be written up after the 27th Book of the Retro Railway Series/Shuffle was completed. However, by the time I got around to writing Book 27 of the Retro RWS/Shuffle and after looking back on my earlier works, I decided to adapte some of those stories and books into the previous 28 books you have already read in this series and the idea for this book was put to a side for a while until the all new adapted version of 'Kaede and the Little Tokyo Engines' was finished. Now that that book has been completed, I am proud to present this latest addition to the series.**** Anyways, that's enough chatter from me, I hope you will enjoy reading this book and I also hope you'll like the new characters introduced in this and future volumes of this series. **

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 29**_

_**Toby and the Heritage Festival**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Another Sodor Engine has been given the chance to visit the City of Tokyo, and that engine was Toby. The Mayor of Tokyo, Captain Jay and the Man in the Suit had organized an event known as 'The Heritage Festival' and since Toby was a vintage tram engine, he was allowed to see the city, along with his faithful coach, Henrietta and friends; Trevor and Elizabeth. During his stay, Toby met a young girl named Yoshida who has a dark secret she's never told before till now. Also, Shamus does get into trouble as per usual, but you'll have to read the stories to find out what he did and I hope you'll enjoy meeting Yoshida as well._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Toby to the Rescue

-Toby Meets Yoshida

-The Engine All Crews Feared

-Lies Do More Harm Than Good

-Part of the Family

_**Toby to the Rescue**_

It was a chilly February morning, the sun was just raising and Toby the Tram Engine was being brought out of the sheds for another day of work. His Driver had come into work with heavy thick jackets on and had half their faces wrapped in scraves. As Toby was being prepared, he spotted a familar figure with a top hat coming over to the sheds, "good morning Toby," said the Fat Controller, "I'm glad I got here before you left."

"Why's that sir?"

"Well I was just talking to the Man in the Suit over the phone and he's asking if you and Henrietta could come to the Little Tokyo Railroad."

"How come sir? Did any of their engines break down?"

"Not this time. The actual reason he would like you both to go to Tokyo is cause the city is going to be hosting a Heritage Festival featuring machines of the past, from airplaces to boats and trains and as you are one of a few operating tram engines on Sodor, he would like you to join in on the festival."

"But what about the quarry work here sir? Mavis can't handle all the work alone."

"I'm fully aware of that Toby and it's all been arranged. Flora will come down from Great Waterton to help out as she's the only other engine who has cowcatchers and sideplates, Stanley can handle all the work in Great Waterton alone until you come back from Tokyo."

Hearing that made Toby's worries disappear, "well in that case sir, I'd be glad to go to Tokyo."

"Most excellent," smiled the Fat Controller, "oh and before I forget, when the time comes for you to go, I would like you to collect Trevor and Elizabeth as they will be joining you at the festival."

With that said, the Fat Controller walked away to make the arrangements.

After the long day of work, Toby returned to the sheds and told the other branch line engines about going to Tokyo for the Heritage Festival.

"It doesn't seem fair," sulked Daisy, "I'm a piece of history too, why wasn't I chosen to go to Tokyo? I bet they won't even have a diesel rail-car at this festival."

"They probably do Daisy, otherwise you would've been invited to come along," said Toby, "besides, you need to stay here and help keep the branch line running."

"I suppose so," Daisy sighed unhappily.

"You'll have a great time while you're in Tokyo Toby," Percy said, "just watch out for Shamus, no doubt in my mind that this festival will go straight to his funnel."

"Don't worry Percy," Toby said with a small smile, "I'll keep my eyes out for him."

Two days later, it was time for Toby to go. Victoria wanted to go too, but Toby reminded her just how important she was to the branch line and how they would need her while he and Henrietta were away. Then, with a cheerful ring on his bell, Toby and Henrietta pulled away from the sheds, the other engines already started missing him.

When Toby arrived at the harbour, he found Salty arranging Trevor and Elizabeth close to where Cranky was. The Fat Controller was also there to see them off, "You four will be representing Sodor during this Heritage Festival, I hope you will do us all proud and be a credit to us. Oh and...have a good time while you're there."

"Yes sir, of course sir," they all said in unison.

The Fat Controller smiled at the 'heritage special' before he turned his attention to Cranky, "okay Cranky, you can lift them up, just be careful, we do not want them to arrive in Tokyo damaged."

Cranky grumbled under his breath, "with the way he speaks, it's as though he thinks I'm a clumsy crane."

Trevor was lifted up first, then Elizabeth went up, she grumbled angerily at Cranky, "be careful you silly crane and mind my brass!" Cranky blew a raspberry at her and payed no more attention to her. Henrietta was gently lifted up next, then after his fire had been dropped, Toby was lifted on board the ship while his crew went to join the other passengers. Once all four 'heritage' pieces were tied down, the ship sounded it's horn and pulled away from the docks.

It took a few days, but soon the ship arrived at the dockyards of the Little Tokyo Railroad. Toby was lifted out first this time, he gasped when he saw the Little Tokyo Railroad and the City of Tokyo.

"Thomas and Percy were right," he thought to himself, "it is a wonderful sight to see." He was soon lowered to the rails with a dull thud, "oof," he groaned.

A female voice called out, "Rick! How many times do we have to tell you to be more careful with visitors!"

"Ah shut up steaming kettle," he snapped and went back to his work.

The big black engine looked down to Toby, "hello there, welcome to Tokyo, you must be Toby, am I right?"

"Yes that's me and if I have to guess, you're Courtney the Japanese Engine."

"That would be me," she smiled, "I'm the one and only Japanese engine on these tracks...at least for now," then she went silent as she heard footsteps walking up beside her.

The footsteps belonged to the Man in the Suit, "ahh Toby, welcome to Tokyo," he said cheerfully, forgetting to speak in English.

"Uh sir," Courtney piped up, "you weren't speaking English."

"That's alright Courtney," said Toby, "I can speak a little Japanese, thanks to Thomas. He actually talks in his sleep, didn't you know that?"

"No, I didn't even know that," she said in complete surprise, she didn't even know Thomas talked in his sleep, "I'm a heavy sleeper, so I don't usually hear these things."

The Man in the Suit spoke up next, "what I said to you Toby was 'welcome to Tokyo'. We're glad you came, we could sure use your help with getting everything ready for this big festival."

"Of course sir, I'll be more than glad to lend a helping buffer," Toby smiled.

Just then, a worker came running up, "sir, I got bad news...again. Shamus has come off the tracks on the level crossing."

"Uh no, not again," groaned the Man in the Suit, slapping his forehead hard, "very well, send Nora to get him back on track."

"Ah actually, Nora won't be doing anything today sir."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, her boiler is full of sledge and she's having it cleaned out right now. You'll have to send Cedric, but there are no other engines that can take him to Shamus."

"Oh but we do have an engine," the Man in the Suit then turned to Toby, "I would like you to collect Cedric from the yards and take him to get that silly Shamus back on the tracks."

"Right away sir," smiled Toby.

With a full head of steam, Toby set off to the rescue. First he took on water and coal, then he collected Cedric and a works coach, and once the workmen were in the coach, Toby set off down the line.

When people saw Toby, they were in surprise, some had never seen a tram engine before and others were surprised to see one of the Little Tokyo. Everytime he passed people, Toby would ring his bell cheerfully and they waved back.

Soon enough, they found Shamus. His front wheels were sitting on the snow and he was tilted at an odd angle.

"I suppose Big Mac or that motor oil traitor had to come rescue me," he snarled crossly, "which one is it?" When he heard Toby's bell ring, he gasped, "Oh no, it's that tram engine from Sodor."

"The name is Toby," he said firmly, "and yes I am a tram engine. Now don't you worry, we'll have you back on the rails in no time."

Workmen attached long chains around Shamus' buffer beams, then they placed Cedric's hook into a set of chains, "alright, he's ready to be lifted again! Go for it Cedric!"

"Right, I'm good to go here!" said the crane.

Cedric tugged and lifted till at last Shamus' wheels were free of the snow and were dangling in the air. Using wooden planks, the workmen helped steady Shamus till at last his wheels were lined up with the rails.

Finally with a clunk, Shamus was back on the rails, "fine thanks, now let's go!"

"We can't go you silly engine, when you crashed, you lost your firebars!" snapped the Driver, "you're lucky we were able to put the fire out before it burned you to a crisp."

The fireman then shouted to Toby, "Can you get us back to the yards Toby?"

"I'll have a good try," came the reply.

Toby shunted Cedric until he was coupled up to Shamus' front couplings and after the crew made sure there was plenty of sand on the rails, the long train set off back to the yards.

The fireman was concerned though, Toby was using alot of water, "steady old boy or _we're_ the ones who are going to need help."

"We'll be fine, we'll be fine," Toby panted, "if I can haul a megatrain, then I can surely pull this train!"

At times, Toby's wheels slipped on the rails and he often felt short of puff, but he didn't give up. He tugged and he pulled, he pulled and he tugged until at last he finally reached the yards of the Little Tokyo Railroad.

Rin and Asa were nearby, they had come to see the set up of the festival and were surprised when Toby arrived with his train.

"Thomas and Percy weren't kidding when they said Toby was a strong tram engine," gasped Rin, Asa was just at a loss of words.

Toby braked gently and stopped beside the platform. The Man in the Suit smiled at him, "well done Toby, you did a fantastic job indeed. You not only rescued Shamus, but you brought his entire train in."

"Well sir," panted Toby, "we couldn't leave the line blocked, we had to do what we had to do."

"And you did good. Now you can go have a rest. I will deal with Shamus and have Luke shunt him away later."

On that note, Cedric was uncoupled from Shamus' front end and Toby puffed away from the station, taking him back to the yards while the Man in the Suit scolded Shamus once again.

What Toby didn't know was that a young girl had been watching him with interest, but all the while, she was looking around nervously. Why? Well, you'll have to wait till the next story to find out.

_**Toby Meets Yoshida**_

While Shamus was waiting in the sheds for a new set of firebars, Toby helped out by doing his work. All of his trains were right on time and there was no damage caused to the supplies on the trains.

"Why is it all the engines who take over for Shamus do a much better job than the actual engine does," Li said one day at the dockyards, but was quickly hushed by his driver as Toby approached the yards with a loaded goods train.

"Enjoying the work Toby?" Laura asked curiously.

"Yes indeed," he smiled, "I enjoy doing these runs, they often remind me of the days when I worked at a harbour on the LNER. Although I can't go as fast as I used to, it's still enjoyable work."

"True that," smiled Li, "although it'd be more enjoyable if Rick was in a better mood."

Rick snarled crossly at Li, who took no notice of the big crane. Laura rolled her eyes, by now she was getting used to the arguments Li and some of the other engines have with Rick. "sorry about this Toby, it's like this all the time."

"It doesn't bother me, it was like this at one time at my old harbour...come to think of it, I often see this back home," he chuckled, but then his smile faded.

"Is something wrong Toby?"

"No Laura, nothing's wrong, I was just wondering, do you two know of a little girl that often tries to hide in the yards?"

"Hide in the yards?" gasped Li, "oh no, it's got to be the Tokyo Terrors again or Sakura the Terror Queen."

"I don't think it was them," said Toby, "I could barely see her, but I saw a nervous sad look on her face as she watched me shunt my trucks."

"It's got to be Primula," said Laura, "she's about the only girl who does that."

"No it wasn't Primula, from what I saw, this little girl was about Primula's age, whatever her age is, but she had bright yellow hair." Silence fell agmost the dockyards.

"Have you seen a girl with bright yellow hair Li?"

"Nope and I bet you haven't either." Laura admitted that she hadn't, even Rick admitted didn't know who this girl was. "Where did you last see her Toby?"

"In the shunting yards, she was hiding behind some crates while I shunted. She took off the moment I called out to her."

"Maybe she's just nervous or something," suggested Laura.

"Or maybe she's hiding because she did something wrong," said Li, "keep your eyes open for her Toby. If she is a troublemaker, we have to be on our guard."

But Toby wasn't enterily sure that this little girl was a troublemaker, he thought Laura was right on the mark with her suggestion.

Later on that afternoon, Toby was shunting again after returning from the Warehouse District. As he shunted his trucks into the proper siding, he spotted the same girl from before.

"It's her," whispered the Driver, "I'll go over there and ask her why she's hiding."

"No," Toby whispered back, "that might just scare her off. If she's shy, then we got to be careful as to not scare her off." The Driver agreed and both he and the fireman went silent.

Toby then spoke in a calm sort of voice, "hello there," he said, "you don't need to hide there, I won't hurt you. What is your name?"

There was a few moments of silence, that was until Toby heard, "are...are you Toby the Tram Engine? From the Island of Sodor?"

"That's me," he whispered back, "but how do you know me?"

"I...I've read your stories in the books by Thin Clergyman and his son," she answered.

"And here I thought the books hadn't come here," Toby thought before continuing his conversation with the young girl, "what is your name?"

"I'm..." but before the girl could say anything, there came a whistle in the distance. The whistle had scared the girl and she took off once again, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

Moments later, Big Mac arrived to collect some trucks, "Hello Toby, shouldn't you be collecting your next train?"

"I am," he answered, "but..."

"But what Toby?"

"Big Mac, how much do you know of a little bright yellow haired girl that hides here in the yards."

"Can't say I know anybody like that," he answered, "the only yellow haired girl I know is Kareha and she doesn't hide in the yards. Although," he added, "I have seen this one hiding in the yards on occassion, but whenever we come in, she often runs."

Toby was now wondering more than ever of why this girl was hiding, but for the rest of the day, he didn't see the little girl. No matter how many times he asked someone if they knew anything about this girl, they all responded, "we've seen her, but we don't know her."

"She's a mysterious girl," Sia said that evening as she and Nerine were visiting the sheds, "she goes to our school, but often disappears out of sight before anyone can talk to her."

"I've tried talking to her once, but she just ran away," added Nerine.

"She did the same thing when I came into the yards," said Big Mac, "the only time she didn't run was when Toby was in the yards."

"That's true," agreed Toby, "even as I came in, she was still there, hiding all the time, but she didn't run."

"She's just a little brat sneaking around our yards," sniffed Shamus, "if I had my firebars, I would go over to the yards and blow my whistle to scare her, that'll solve the problem."

"No," snapped Li, "you'd only scare her away for good. Quite frankly Shamus, your ugly face is enough to scare anyone off."

"You're lucky I can't work right now, otherwise I'd..."

"Shut up Shamus!" snapped Courtney and the princesses in unison. Shamus went quiet at once.

"I'll try talking to her again tomorrow," Toby told the others, "assuming she'll come back."

And she did. The following next morning, Toby was shunting some coal trucks together ready for the trip to the district when he spotted the same young girl again, hiding behind some oil barrels.

"Hello again," he whispered over to her, "it's okay, it's just me and my crew, the other engines are out doing their own jobs. Can you come out of hiding please?" There was no answer from the girl, so Toby asked, "what is your name?"

"My name is...Yoshida," she answered, "and I'm sorry, but I can't come over there. What if someone sees me?"

"It's alright Yoshida, there is no one else in the yards. I'm sorry to say this, but if you stay hidden, then someone's going to assume you're up to no good. It's alright for you to talk to me, lots of other people and beings do that," then Toby went silent, his crew didn't say a single word.

After a moment, the girl got up from behind the oil barrel and started walking over towards Toby.

She had short blonde hair with white ribbons holding up two little pink tails on both sides of her head, she also had on a pink jacket and a dark brown uniform, similar to the ones Sia and Nerine were wearing the night before. She was also wearing bright pink boots and red gloves.

Yoshida walked slowly at first, still being rather nervous, but soon she reached Toby. The old tram engine showed a smile to the young girl as she lifted her right arm and carefully placed her right hand on his left buffer. She then looked up to Toby with her light blue eyes showing and for a moment, a smile appeared on her face.

Toby didn't dare say a word in case he scared her. Yoshida on the other hand spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that someone would suspect me as a troublemaker...not that I'm surprised."

"Why?" Toby asked kindly.

"Cause of who I am and who I'm related to. If anyone found out who I am, I would be in big trouble and I'd be joining my big sister in prison," then she asked, "do you know Sakura the Terror Queen?"

"Not in person no, but I've heard of her. Is she your sister Yoshida?"

Yoshida was about to answer when suddenly, "hey you! What are you doing in the yards!" it was the Man in the Suit, shouting at the top of his lungs. Yoshida, taken by surprise jumped in fright, dropped her school bag and ran away as fast as she could go. "Another little sneak, as if we haven't got enough problems with them!"

"Sir," Toby piped up, "she wasn't doing anything wrong, she was just saying hello."

"So she wasn't trying to rip your buffer off?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, "I saw her sneak around in the yards and I thought she was going to vandalise you."

"No, she's just a shy little girl who's too afraid to speak to anyone."

"Who was she Toby?"

"I'm sorry sir, but for right now I can't tell you who she is," Toby answered as he looked down the road. There was no sign of Yoshida, "I don't think she would want me to tell anyone who she is or who she's related to."

"Very well Toby, but I can't let her get away with sneaking around. Next time I see her, I'll have to bring her into my office for a chat," he then picked up the school bag that the girl had left behind and took it back to his office, leaving Toby to worry about his new little friend.

_**The Engine All Crews Feared**_

Over the next few days during the preparations of the Heritage Festival, Yoshida didn't return to pick up her bag nor did she ever return to the Little Tokyo Railroad. "She'll come back soon," said Laura one night in the sheds, "after all that bag may have her homework in it."

"Maybe," Toby muttered thoughtfully, there was still the mystery as to why Yoshida was extermly shy and would run when someone saw her.

On a slightly chilly Saturday morning, Rick the Crane lowered another engine off a ship that had arrived from Canada. The engine was solid black with four front wheels and four driving wheels, it's funnel was average height and on it's tender were the words 'Canadian Pacific'. Underneath the engine's window were the numbers '136'.

The people that came with her took a good look at her after she had been lowered off the ship. Toby and Courtney, who were at the dockyards waiting for the cargo of another ship, both greeted the engine and introduced themselves.

"I'm Courtney the Japanese Engine, I'm the LTR's No. 1 and this is Toby, the North Western's No. 7."

"Well it's nice to meet you both, I'm Hannah," said the old engine with such wisdom in her voice, "I've heard of you quite a bit Toby. Where I work, I often see little kids hold toys of you or your friends from Sodor whenever they're riding with me."

"You mean on the Canadian Pacific?" Courtney asked curiously.

"No my dear I'm afraid not. I haven't worked on the Canadian Pacific since my official retirement in 1960. I work at the South Simcoe Railway in Ontario Canada, I puff backwards and forwards along the line with two to three coaches and giving people the chance to ride behind vintage trains."

"Almost sounds like Stepney's Bluebell Railway line," said Toby, "they run on a heritage railway giving people the chance to ride behind steam engines."

"You're not the first to say that Toby, I've heard that quite a few times during my runs."

"Are you the only engine who works on the South Simcoe line?" Courtney asked.

Hannah paused as she watched some of the workers that came with her leave to get the artifacts from the ship, then she answered Courtney's question, "no Courtney, I'm not the only one that works on that line. My younger cousin 1057, otherwise known as Susan often pulls the trains when I'm not feeling well. When both of us are out of action, either Eric the 44 tonner or Cracker Jack, our newest diesel will take over the train."

"Why do you call him 'Cracker Jack'?"

"It was a name he got before coming to our railway, he had an incident with a truck of lorry as you would call it, full of crackers and for some reason, they wanted to call him 'Cracker'."

"But the name changed when he left to come to our railway, someone said 'Hit the Road Jack' and it was on that day that his Driver gave him the name 'Cracker Jack'. So that's how he got his name."

"Clever," said Courtney, then she asked, "do you like working on the South Simcoe Railway."

"Oh yes indeed, I love working on the railway, giving people rides all day and showing others something as old as me can still work just like the modern day engines. It's only a shame many of the engines of my class can't say the same, one is a static display in Alberta and the other is in Montreal, also a static display. The others I'm sad to say we're scrapped, so it's no wonder why so many people like seeing us and the other engines who survived the old days of the CPR...although I don't think they'd say the same about old No. 132."

"Who was he?" Toby asked curiously.

"No. 132 was the engine all crews of the CPR feared the most. He was reckless, very rude and dangerous to work with."

"Dangerous to work with?" Courtney asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yes," Hannah answered as she felt the warmth of her fire starting to spread into her boiler. "He was one of many engines built in America and shipped out to the Canadian Pacific in the early days, but out of them all, he was the main engine that was believed to be cursed and no engine crew ever wanted to work with him and who could blame them."

"One night, No. 132 was travelling along on the tracks threw the Rocky Mountains, but going he was going fast, too fast for his own good. His crew were worried and tried to slow him down, but it seemed that No. 132 wasn't obeying their orders, it would've been better if he did," she paused on a dramatic note.

"In those days, and I think still to this day, all engines have to great care when going threw the Rocky Mountains as the line was steep and with a sheer drop down the mountain on one side of the tracks. Anyways, No. 132 was out of control, the crew tried to stop him, but their efforts did little good and then...disaster."

A pause came as Hannah wheesed steam, "sorry Hannah, but we got to make sure you won't have any problems," said her Driver.

"It's okay sir, I understand perfectly," she said before turning her attention back to Toby and Courtney, "No. 132 flew off the tracks and landed on it's right side on the rocks."

"What about it's crew?" Courtney asked.

Hannah looked down to her plow, she was silent. Courtney and Toby quickly understood what that meant, "it was a tragic event," Hannah said quietly, "and you would think that after the tragic accident that No. 132 would learn his lesson, well you'd be wrong."

Hannah paused once more as she saw Sia and Nerine come up, they had heard the beginning of the story. They apologized for interupting and after introducing themselves, Sia asked the question: "Did 132 learn any sense?"

"He most certainly did not. After he was rebuilt and given a new number, I don't remember what it was anymore, he went on, still being just as brash and as rude as ever. Still, he worked hard, until one evening when something went terribly wrong."

"From what I heard, old No. 132 was climbing up threw the mountains when something blew...it's boiler!" she said, lowering her voice, "his boiler blew itself apart and the crew..." silence fell over the yards once again, she didn't need to say anything, everyone knew what that meant.

"Instead of being scrapped, he was rebuilt again and renumbered to 130, but for a long time afterwords, all engine crews were afraid to take that engine out."

"Surely then it must've learned some sense," said Nerine.

"Afraid you'd be wrong there," said Hannah, looking down at Nerine, "old No. 130 never learned to behave himself and he was still just as rude as ever. But I'll tell you something, it wasn't just the crews who were scared of that engine, many of us CPR engines were scared too, even the Canadian National engines were scared of him whenever he came into the station. Despite the fact engine crews and engines feared him, he continued to run for another thirty years on the CPR."

"Is he still around to this day?" Sia asked nervously.

"As far as I know, the answer is 'no'. Last I heard, Old No. 130, the engine all crews and engines feared, was sent for scrap in favour of the new engines on the railway. He was never seen or heard from again, not even his headlamp or his bell survived the scrapyards," Hannah finished her story and silence fell at the dockyards, not even Rick said a single word.

Just then, her owner came up to speak to her, "everything seems to be in order Hannah. We did a fine job in restoring you over the last few years, now you can go to the Warehouse District where you'll be staying until the Heritage Festival."

"Yes sir," said Hannah cheerfully.

"I actually have one more question I want to ask you Hannah," Courtney piped up, "why do you have the words 'Canadian Pacific' on the side of your tender when you're from the South Simcoe."

"For appearance, just to show people of which railroad I used to work on before going to the South Simcoe."

At that moment, her Driver opened the old regulator, steam wheesed out and her driving wheels started to turn, "well it was nice talking to all of you, I hope we can talk again soon."

"It was nice talking to you too Hannah and thank you for telling us about No. 132," said Courtney.

"It was my pleasure," and with a cheerful toot of her whistle, Hannah departed away from the dockyards and on her way to the Warehouse District.

A little later, Toby was shunting some trucks in the yard when he spotted a familar young face hiding behind some barrels of oil, "it's her again," he whispered to his crew.

They went quiet at once and Toby whispered softly to Yoshida, "it's okay, it's just me and my crew, you can come out of hiding."

Toby waited patiently and remained quiet. Finally, Yoshida came out of her hiding spot and walked forwards towards Toby, "I'm sorry for running again, it's just that the controller of this railway scared me."

"There's no need to be scared of him, he's a good man, he's just had problems with trespassers in the past. He's a good man really and I'm sure he didn't mean to scare you."

"That's true," said a familar voice. Yoshida jumped in fright for who should've said that but the Man in the Suit himself, "I'm sorry to startle you, but I need answers from you. Why are you hiding in my railyards and why do you keep running from us?"

Yoshida was frozen in fear, she didn't know what to say, but after less than a minute, she finally spoke up, "well sir, I hide and run because I'm shy, but mostly nervous, I don't want anyone to know me cause I'm sure if they got to know me, they would discover who I am, the baby sister of Sakura the Terror Queen."

**Author's Note:**

The story Hannah told about Engine No. 132 is based on the real life event of that particular locomotive on the Canadian Pacific railway with the same tragic incidents as mentioned in the story. After it's second tragic incident, No. 130 worked for thirty more years, but still all crews were afraid to take it out.

_**Lies Do More Harm Than Good**_

"You're Sakura the Terror Queen's sister?" exclaimed the Man in the Suit.

"Yes," Yoshida answered sadly as she looked down to the ballast beside the rails. "It's not easy being related to the Terror Queen or be a member of a family that likes to commit crimes. All my life, I've tried to make friends, but no sooner do I do that, then someone reveals the truth and I quickly lose those friends because they're scared of my family."

What none of them knew was that someone else was listening in to this story, and that someone was Shamus. His new firebars had been put into place the night before and now he was working like a new engine again. He sat in a siding close to the yards, but was hidden from their view.

"Hello, this sounds interesting," he snickered as his crew went to get their orders.

"That sounds horrible," Toby said quietly, not wanting to scare the little girl.

"It was and it's worse to this day. After hearing about Sakura's Tokyo Terror gang, I had to wear disguises or hide out of sight, cause if anyone found me, even though I didn't do anything wrong, they would turn me over to the police, cause they would think that I'm up to no good just like my sister."

"Okay I understand now, so that's why you hide, but why are you coming over to my yards now?" asked the Man in the Suit.

"Because of Toby, I've always loved tram engines. I think they are grand and wonderful engines and when I found out that the great 'Toby the Tram Engine' was coming to Tokyo, I came here in the hopes of meeting him."

"Okay well that clears everything up then," the Man in the Suit said after Yoshida had finished explaining everything, "I won't report you young lady, I want to just to let you off with a warning. Don't sneak around the yards, otherwise someone will turn you in."

"Okay sir, I understand."

"Good, now stay put, I'll go get your school bag." The Man in the Suit turned on his heel and walked off back to his office.

Out of sight of the Man in the Suit, Shamus was sitting in the siding and snickering, "so the little girl is related to the Terror Queen," he said slyly to himself, "we definetly can't have her sneak around here then."

Shamus had a plan, a sneaky devious plan to prevent the little girl from ever returning.

When his crew returned, Shamus told them a false story, "it turns out that girl, Yoshida, she's the little sister of Sakura the Terror Queen and she's plotting a scheme for payback for what the railway and those...girls and boys did to Sakura."

"Makes sense when you think about it," said the Driver, "sometimes younger sibblings do follow the older ones."

"Hold on a second, we've heard Shamus make lies before," said the fireman, "this could be another one of his lies. Where did you hear this Shamus?"

"I heard it from the little girl herself as she was sneaking about the yards. I believe she was talking to her big sister on those mobile phones."

"Is this for real?"

"Yes it's for real, when it comes to the safety of the railway equipment and workers, I would never joke about that."

"Well I don't know Shamus, I'm not sure if we can believe you," said the Driver, "however, you do sound serious about this. If this 'Yoshida' is a troublemaker, then we have to report her to the Man in the Suit."

"No you don't, he already knows and is on the lookout for that girl. I think the police should learn about this."

The Driver and fireman agreed and within seconds, the Driver was on the phone with the police telling them everything Shamus had said. Unknown to them, Shamus had a sly grin on his face, "that's one less annoyance to deal with," he chuckled quietly to himself, "too bad I can't do the same to the others."

A short time later, Toby was puffing along with his goods train. As a special treat, after getting her school bag back from the Man in the Suit, Yoshida was given the chance to ride in Toby's cab.

"This is amazing," she said, smiling as they puffed along, "I've always wondered what it'd be like to ride on a steam tram, but this is better than anything I could've ever imagined."

"Well we're glad you're enjoying the ride," smiled the Driver.

"You're both very lucky to be working with a wonderful engine like Toby."

Unknown to them, Toby was blushing. The joyful moment though wasn't going to last as they heard sirens in the distance, "Hello," Toby said out loud, "I wonder what's going on now?"

They were due to find out as police cars came into view and started chasing them, "stop your engine, you've got a criminal on board!" one of the officers shouted threw a megaphone.

"I have a bad feeling about this," groaned Yoshida.

Toby's Driver applied the brakes and Toby slowed to a smooth stop just before a level crossing. The police cars stopped close by and several dozen officers came pouring out of them.

"We don't have any criminals on board this train," Toby protested.

"Yes you do, she's right here," said one officer and grabbed hold of Yoshida's left arm, "get out of that cab, you're under arrest."

"For riding on a steam tram?" she asked in surprise.

"For sneaking about on private public property and for plotting schemes aganist the Little Tokyo Railroad. Young lady, you're coming with us to the police station."

"But officers that's not true," Toby piped up, "Yoshida would never do that, that's something..."

"Her sister would do? Yes we know, but there's more to this girl than you will ever know. Now after she's removed from your cab, you can proceed on your way."

Yoshida was helped out of the cab and was handcuffed, "see what I mean Toby?" she asked with tears down from her eyes.

"On your way!" said one of the officers.

With a sad wheesh of steam, Toby puffed away from the crossing, leaving poor Yoshida in the hands of the police. "Where would the police get the idea that Yoshida would be plotting aganist the railway."

"Search me," said the Driver, "maybe someone made a false statement about her."

"Now who would be so cold hearted to do that?" the fireman asked.

"I think I know," Toby muttered, but decided to wait till later to find out.

Later that evening, Toby puffed into the sheds in between Shamus and Hannah. Shamus was talking the loudest out of anyone there, "it's a shame when you think about it. A sweet cute girl like her turns out to be a criminal. Good thing I heard what she said."

"And what excatly did you hear?" Toby asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well it's like I told the others, she was talking to her sister and talking about what she would do to all of us engines. Can you imagine the kind of damage she would cause at the Heritage Festival tomorrow morning? It would be terrible."

"Horrible is more like it," said Jupiter, one of the other visiting engines.

Toby stared at Shamus, "Did you actually hear those words Shamus?"

"Well I did hear her talk as she was sneaking about the yards."

"Oh really? You didn't hear what she really said when she was talking to me?"

Shamus gulped, he had completely forgotten that Yoshida was talking with Toby and the Man in the Suit, "uh, it was...what I just said."

"That's rubbish," Toby hissed crossly, "you made up the lie about Yoshida. She's nothing like Sakura the Terror Queen, she's actually worried about what people will say if they found out she's _related_ to Sakura. Because of her sister, she doesn't have that many friends and that's why she's shy and nervous. That is what she _really_ said to us."

All eyes peered over to Shamus, all of which were angry stares, "Alright I'll admit it, I made up the lie, but at least it got that silly little girl to stop visiting us."

"Oh of course," growled Li angerily, "it's more important for you to be left alone than having people come here to meet us."

"You've done some terrible things since you first arrived here Shamus," Courtney said angerily, "but this is the worst thing you could ever do. Now thanks to you, an innocent little girl is spending the night in jail."

"Do you really think I care? No, I don't. I ask that those friends of yours to stop visiting us so that I could have some piece and quiet. Hopefully after today, your friends will think twice about coming here."

"They won't need to," said a voice from the doorway.

"He's in trouble again," snickered Courtney.

Footsteps could be heard walking towards Shamus' area of the shed. The light green tender engine gulped nervously as the figure came walking up to speak to him, "I heard what you've done Shamus, I am displeased with you," said the Man in the Suit firmly.

_**Part of the Family**_

The Man in the Suit stared angerily at Shamus, "I thought you derailing all the time was the worst thing you could ever do and then I found out about this."

"Uh..."

"You know how I found out? The police came and told me that they arrested her after getting the reports from your crew, who got it from you. I told the real truth and they let Yoshida go."

"Lies do more harm than good," Big Mac said wisely.

"Oh come on, if you wanted piece and quiet, what would you do?"

"Well personally none of us want piece and quiet," said Courtney, "we enjoy the company of our friends. Before I became a better engine, the only people I ever talked to were my crew and the Man in the Suit and no one else, but since Thomas' first arrival here, I've gotten to meet lots of people from all three words and you know what, I enjoy having them around instead of being alone in the yards or the sheds."

"I too enjoy company," said Li, "Can't see why you don't like it Shamus."

"I have my reasons," he grumbled, but went quiet as the Man in the Suit stared at him.

"You have gone too far this time Shamus. After the Heritage Festival, you will be left in the sheds for two weeks...again!"

"Two weeks, that's not fair!" snapped the green engine in protest.

"Well then you should've thought about that before starting those lies...oh and I've informed your crew of what you did and they're not too pleased with you either. Now good night."

The Man in the Suit turned and walked away.

"At least Yoshida isn't going to jail," said Toby.

"True that," agreed Li, "but if there was a jail for engines, Shamus would be going there all the time."

"You are disgraceful to the names of engines," said Jupiter angerily, "we've all done foolish antics in our time, but not even we would frame an innocent girl the way you've done today."

"In the words of the three big main line engines," said Toby, "you are disgraceful, what you did was disgusting and dispicable too."

All the other engines agreed with Toby, but Shamus payed no attention to them, he didn't even care.

The following next morning, the festival had began. The Festival grounds took up an entire street near the big station, it was here where people came to see historical artifacts and watched antique road vehicles roll up and down the roadway and watched as old planes took to the skies. At the station, seven historical engines had been lined up and would go backwards and forwards, showing off how they worked.

Toby brought in the most crowds because he was a steam tram, but all that time, he couldn't stop thinking about Yoshida.

"The poor thing, all she wanted was a friend and now thanks to Shamus, she may never come back," he sighed unhappily to himself.

"She'll come back Toby," said Henrietta, "just give her some time, she went threw a lot yesterday. She needs time to calm down."

Henrietta was going to be proven right later that night.

After the first day of the festival was over, three of the seven engines puffed off to the Warehouse District with the antique cars, lorries, planes and tractors as there wasn't much room for all of them and the Little Tokyo Engines in the shed. As Toby was shunting Elizabeth and Trevor's flatbed into the shed, he spotted a familar young face in the yards.

"Hey Dave, can you take me back to the yards?" he whispered to his Driver, "there's someone there I want to speak to."

His Driver looked and then nodded, "sure Toby, just as soon as we get you uncoupled."

Once uncoupled, Toby puffed slowly over to the yards. He pulled up smoothly into the station and let out a small wheesh of steam, then he and his crew went silent once more.

Yoshida was nervous at first, but then she started walking towards him.

"Hello Yoshida, I was worried about you," Toby said kindly.

"I'm sorry I didn't come today, I didn't want to be seen after what happened yesterday."

"About yesterday, the reason the police came after you was because of a false lie caused by No. 1621, Shamus. He has a thing about people coming here on a regular basis, so he told a lie after seeing us talk in the yards."

"I guess we both have bad apples in our families don't we?"

"Yeah I guess we do, but you can relax knowing that the Man in the Suit is going to deal with Shamus after the Heritage Festival is over. I don't think he'll be pulling that stunt again."

"I hope not, cause I didn't like being in the police car," Yoshida sighed unhappily and looked down to her shoes. "Toby, do you still want to be my friend?"

"Yes Yoshida, I would like to be your friend, I would like that very much."

And for the first time since getting arrested by the police, Yoshida showed a cheerful smile on her face. Then she looked over to the sheds.

"Would you like to meet the other engines?"

"I would, but I'm shy."

"It's okay, I'll be there with you."

Yoshida looked back at the sheds nervously, then back to Toby. She was still nervous, but after a moment, she showed a determined look on her face, "in that case, I would love to meet the other engines."

Yoshida climbed on board Toby, then the Tram engine puffed off back to the sheds. When they arrived, they found not only the engines waiting there, but they found all their friends there too.

"Hey Toby," Asa called to him, "who's that in your cab?"

"I can't do this Toby," groaned Yoshida, "there's too many of them."

"It's okay," he said calmly, then he spoke to the others, "this girl is really shy about meeting other people, so please don't shout at her or say anything to scare her."

"We promise," Primula and Courtney said quietly in unison.

"You can come out of my cab when you're ready," Toby said to Yoshida.

She stayed in the cab for a whole minute, then very slowly, she stepped down from the cab. Shamus, being who he was, was about to shout, but his crew covered his mouth and told him to be quiet.

Yoshida looked at the small crowd of people and engines, then she looked up to Toby, who showed an encouraging smile. She then took in a deep breath and stepped forward till she was standing in front of the brown tram engine, "hello, I'm Yoshida. I'm...the baby sister of Sakura the Terror Queen," she said quietly.

There was a pause in the shed, that was until Primula walked up towards her, "it's nice to meet you Yoshida, I'm Primula."

Then one after another, the others started introducing themselves to her until she got to know them all. Then there was Shamus, "I believe he has something he wants to say to you," said Luke.

"No I don't," grumbled Shamus.

All eyes, except for Yoshida's, stared at Shamus angerily. "Stop looking at me like that, I won't say it!" But the staring didn't stop, even Kaede and Nerine stared angerily at him.

"Oh alright I'll say it, if it'll stop you from looking at me like that!"

"Go on," said Li firmly.

Shamus growled and then took in a deep breath before saying, "I'm sorry for making those false lies about you Yoshida," he said threw his teeth, "and I promise I won't do it again."

"Good, we hope you stay true to your word," said Courtney.

"Cause if you don't, I'll grab a row of chairs and I'll toss them at you!" Sia said firmly.

"Please don't do that," groaned Rin.

Primula chuckled and look back over to Yoshida, "this is normal for us," she whispered, "we're just like one big 'happy' family. Welcome to the family by the way."

"Thank you," Yoshida said with a cheerful smile on her face. It was as if at that moment that all of Yoshida's worries and lonely feelings went down the drain, she truely felt happy to finally have friends who cared for her and it was all thanks to her good friend, Toby the Steam Tram Engine.

_**The End!**_


	30. Heritage Festival Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 30**_

_**Heritage Festival Engines**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Elizabeth was complaining to me the other day about why I didn't mention her moments at the Heritage Festival in the Previous book. I simply told her "I wanted to write about Toby and Yoshida's adventures in that book. This next one will feature your moments, along with everyone else's." Of course Elizabeth was not happy when I said I was going to mention that one incident she had, she shouted at me and told me not to include it. But I will include the story, that will teach her not to be so rude._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Trevor, Elizabeth and the Fog

-Hannah to the Rescue

-The Story of Jumbo

-High-Rise Rescue

_**Trevor, Elizabeth and the Fog**_

More than hundreds of people in the City of Tokyo and visitors from out of town came down to the main railway station for the grand heritage festival. Everyone was enjoying themselves as there was lots to see at this festival and lots to learn, but if you asked Elizabeth the Vintage Sentential Lorry, you would've thought they came to the festival just to see her.

"Lots of people came over to see me today," she boasted one evening, "they took so many photographs of me that I didn't know which way to look. I think they'll tell everyone about me..."

"It's not always about you," Tyler said firmly. Tyler is a very old car from the early days of roadway traction and was a visitor from Australia, "the reason they come here is because of _all_ of us and our owners."

"Maybe, but they all come to see me more than any of you," she said grandly, "I am a Vintage Sentential Lorry after all, there aren't many of us left."

"There is another steam lorry like you on Sodor," Trevor reminded her, "remember Isabella?"

"Yes I remember her, but she's not grand like me. She works with Jack and his pack, she doesn't do sensible work like yours truely. I carry clean crates for Sir Topham Hatt, who by the way had me restored after I was found, you'll never catch me taking something dirty."

Trevor and the rest of the roadway vehicles groaned and said no more for the rest of the evening.

Early the next morning, Elizabeth and the other roadway vehicles awoke to find thick fog all around them. It's a common sight in the mornings to see thick fog all around the station and yards, due to the fact that they were close to the dockyards and the ocean. Today however, the fog was really thick, "you could cut it with a knife," said Tyler's owner.

Tyler had to agree with his owner, "I've never seen fog this thick before, I wonder if the festival will be put on hold for the day."

"Rubbish," sniffed Elizabeth, "they'll come, especially since there's a Sentential Lorry for them to see."

Tyler groaned and whispered to Trevor, "is she like this all the time back on Sodor?"

"Sadly yes," answered Trevor, "and everytime she boasts, she usually ends up in trouble."

At that moment, the Man in the Suit and Captain Jay, the owner of the 'J Tugs' came over to speak with Elizabeth, "we need your help with an important delivery," Captain Jay said to her, "a large order of fish has arrived and it needs to get to the City's best Sushi resturant."

"What?" exclaimed Elizabeth, "you want me to bring _fish_ to a resturant? I don't do those things, why don't you get the engines to do it?"

"Cause none of the tracks go near that resturant," answered the Man in the Suit, "and there are no other lorries available. You're the only lorry around here that isn't doing much."

"Oh joy," groaned Elizabeth.

She did agree to help, but she wasn't pleased about it. The crates were brought down from the dockyards and loaded into Elizabeth, then once they had been tied down, she set off.

"You better give me a good wash after this smelly job is done," she said angerily to her Driver.

"Of course I will Elizabeth," he muttered, even he was starting to get annoyed by Elizabeth's constant boasting.

The fog was so thick that day that they had to go slowly along the roads until it started lifting, "finally I can see where I'm going," sighed Elizabeth. Her speed increased and she rolled down the roads until at last, she arrived at the city's best Sushi Resturant.

"Thank you for bringing the fish," said the manager, "now we'll have more than enough food for all the people who come here today."

"Smelly fish," Elizabeth sniffed, "can't understand why anyone would want to eat it."

The employees of the resturant helped Elizabeth's Driver unload the crates of fish from her and into the resturant, Elizabeth cringed up her nose and waited impatiently for _all_ the fish to be unloaded.

"The sooner I'm away from the fish, the better," she complained.

Finally after a quarter of an hour, the fish were unloaded and Elizabeth was ready to go back, "remember, you promised me a wash!"

"Yes Elizabeth, of course Elizabeth," groaned her Driver.

The employees thanked Elizabeth and waved till she was out of sight. Elizabeth didn't toot her horn back at them, she was only focused on getting back to the yards for a well earned washdown.

The way back though was going to be difficult. They made good timing, but as they neared the dockyards, they met up with the thick fog again.

"I can't see!" cried Elizabeth, "I thought the fog would've disappeared by now!"

"Pay attention to the road Elizabeth," cried her Driver.

But with zero visibility, Elizabeth couldn't keep an eye on the road and suddenly without warning...BANG! Elizabeth ran smack into something and stopped within an instant.

"Ow," groaned the Driver, "what was that?"

He climbed down from the cab and went to see what they ran into. "Are you blind or something?" cried an angry voice, "you ran into my new car you baka!"

At last, some of the fog disappeared and the answer was revealed. Elizabeth had run into a parked car and now it's owner, although unhurt, was very cross, "I'm sorry," said Elizabeth's Driver, "we didn't mean to run into you, we just couldn't see threw the fog."

"I had my parking brake lights on, surely you or that lorry of yours could've seen that."

"I couldn't, that's why I told Elizabeth to pay attention to the road."

Elizabeth couldn't speak, she was in too much shock after the accident. Elizabeth's Driver got out the mobile phone and called for a breakdown lorry to take the damaged car away. As for Elizabeth herself, she had damage on her front bumper and underneath her. When she ran into the parked car, her firebars came loose and collapsed, dropping her fire onto the ground. Luckily the Driver spotted it and quickly put it out.

"So how will you get her back to the festival?" the car owner asked.

"I'll call an old friend to come tow her back," the Driver pulled out his mobile phone again and called for help.

The Breakdown lorry soon arrived and towed the damaged car away. Moments later, a familar chugging sound could be heard. It was Trevor the Traction Engine, Elizabeth wasn't happy to see him, "don't say a word," Elizabeth said crossly to Trevor.

Very wisely, Trevor didn't say a word. His Owner, Jem Cole, reserved Trevor so that he was going to be running forwards back to the festival grounds, then he and Elizabeth's Driver attached a long chain in between Trevor and Elizabeth.

Soon they were ready to go, Elizabeth's Driver was going to stay in the cab to keep her going in the right direction. Then with a toot of his whistle, Trevor started away back to the festival grounds.

At this time, Mayumi was walking along towards the school when she heard chugging sounds.

"That doesn't sound like one of the railway's engines," she thought to herself.

She soon found out what it was, as Trevor came into view, towing Elizabeth behind him, "now that's something you don't see everyday, I wish I had brought my camera with me, cause I don't think anyone will believe me if I tell them this."

But it wasn't just Mayumi who saw them, lots of people who walked along on the sidewalks saw them coming and many of them took pictures and videos with their mobile phones. Elizabeth really wished they didn't.

Finally, Trevor and Elizabeth returned to the festival grounds where the workmen were waiting, along with Captain Jay and the Man in the Suit.

They inspected Elizabeth all over and found very little damage done, other than to the front bumper and of course the lost firebars, "don't worry Elizabeth, we'll have you repaired in no time," said the Man in the Suit, "Big Mac can take you to the shops where you will be fixed."

Elizabeth spent all day at the Warehouse District shops and returned just before the festival was done for the day. "Hey look," someone shouted, "it's that Sudrian Sentential lorry.

Elizabeth smiled, but not for long, especially when she heard..."I saw her earlier today, she was being towed by Trevor the Traction Engine."

"Yeah I saw that too," said another person, "traction engines sure are strong machines. I actually posted the video online."

"Who can see that?" Elizabeth asked her Driver nervously.

"Anyone who goes on the world wide web," her Driver answered. Elizabeth groaned at that answer.

"Well Elizabeth, you said were the main attraction here at this festival," said Tyler, "well now you're the main attraction all around the world, that must make you happy."

Elizabeth wasn't happy, she didn't like her new found fame. Needless to say though, after that accident, Elizabeth didn't boast once during the rest of her visit in Tokyo.

**Author's Note:**

Elizabeth's accident was inspired by a real life event where a car was rammed from behind and damaged due to the fact there was zero visibility, this event occurred at Tunstall, Suffolk, when it happened though is uknown.

_**Hannah to the Rescue**_

"...for many years after my retirement, I was left in a shed, locked up and never meant to be seen again," Hannah was saying, "I didn't even look like my former self. I thought I would be locked up forever, that was until I was bought up by a movie company which had me restored and put me into service as the lead engine in a movie called 'The National Dream'."

"Well at least you saw some service again," said Courtney.

"Yes, but after the movies, I was retired once again, but as luck would have it, I was later bought by the South Simcoe Heritage Railway, along with my good friend Susan, No. 1057 and following our arrival, they set to work in restoring me back to my former glory."

Hannah had been telling the engines and a few of their friends all about her working life, starting from the Canadian Pacific to her current working life on the South Simcoe Railway. Everyone had been listening with great interest, except for Shamus, who was muttering crossly under his breath.

"Do you have something you want to say Shamus?" Sia asked with a raised eyebrow, "cause you're more than welcome to speak up."

"No thanks, I rather not speak to you idiots," he said rudely.

Luke spoke firmly to Shamus, "show some respect Shamus, we have company and it's ill mannered to speak to them like that." Shamus snorted as if he didn't care, "I apologize for his behaviour," Luke said to the visitors.

"No harm done Luke," said Jupiter, "I've heard worse in the past."

"So have I," said Hannah, "Some actually called me 'a steaming pile of scrap iron' and some even said that even if I did escape the scrapyards, I would never run again."

"Well you and the South Simcoe certainly proved them wrong," chuckled Li.

"Yes I guess we did," Hannah said with a small smile, "but I'll never boast about that, I'm just glad to be in one piece again and best of all, to be operating once more."

"Were you recently restored?" a young female voice asked, "cause you look like you just came out of the shops."

The voice was coming from Yoshida, whose confidence was starting to grow, thanks to the many friends she had gotten since the festival had began. Hannah showed Yoshida her small smile, "as a matter of fact Yoshida, I was just recently restored. After running for about eleven years, I was starting to wear down and so the South Simcoe took me out of service and put Susan in charge of the trains until I was ready to come back."

"How long did it take for the South Simcoe Railway to restore you?" Laura asked curiously.

"My restoration began in 2004 and was just completed weeks before I came here, so in answer to your question Laura, I was under restoration for about five years and I have to say, the South Simcoe Employees did a very good job in their work, even Cracker Jack can admit that."

"What makes you say that?" asked Sia.

"Well..." and this is the story Hannah told.

Since the line was first opened in 1992, Hannah the Old Canadian Pacific Engine had been pulling passenger trains along the South Simcoe line while work was being done on her friend Susan. Although it was different from what she used to do in the old days, Hannah didn't mind this at all. She loved pulling or pushing the old passenger coaches behind her and enjoyed seeing the happy faces on visitor's faces.

By 2001, Susan's overhaul was finally completed and she could take over for a while and she did, giving Hannah a chance to rest. At times though, the railway ran Hannah on the front end of the train, like when former Canadian Pacific 2816 came to Ontario Canada.

Sadly by the winter of 2003, Hannah was starting to feel worn out, "she won't be able to pull trains for the next season sir," her Driver said to her manager.

"My thoughts excatly, Hannah has been working for the last thirteen years without a major overhaul, so I think it's about time she had one. Eric and Susan will take over the passenger runs during that time."

With that decision made, Hannah was shunted into a siding out of the way, "don't worry old girl," her fireman said soothingly, "you'll be as good as new in no time."

After dropping the fire, the fireman climbed down from the cab and left Hannah alone in the siding.

But it took a long time to repair Hannah. On heritage railways, it costs alot of money and takes more time to overhaul engines than it would on a railway like the North Western or the Little Tokyo. At first, Hannah was left outside to be worked on, mostly just so that the visitors could see her, "poor engine," one of them said, "she looks terrible." From their view, she did look terrible with her boiler jacket gone and her black paint fading away.

Finally though, they moved Hannah into the workshops where they continued their overhaul work. Many seasons passed them by until at last in early 2009, Hannah was finally brought out of the workshops, looking as good as new and feeling like a new engine too.

"You look just as grand as before," smiled her Driver, "they did a great job on you."

"I especially like the new paintjob they gave you," added the fireman.

During her stay in the workshops, the South Simcoe Railway employees had given her a new paintjob, which was different from her original black paintjob. Her window frames were now painted red and both a small portion of the tender and the number box underneath the windows had been given the traditional Canadian Pacific brown paint with yellow lining.

"Must've been inspired by 2816's visit," the fireman continued, "still, let's give you a good test run."

But just as he and the Driver were going to climb up into the cab, the manager ran up to speak to them, "our new diesel Cracker Jack has failed out on the main line with the special passenger train full of wedding guests, I need you to bring him and the train back here."

"Sure sir," said the Driver, "although it's a little risky since Hannah has just been brought out of the shops, she hasn't had her tests yet."

"Well we'll have to do them on the way," said the fireman, "now let's go."

The Driver responded by opening the reserver, Hannah let out a huge burst of steam and when it cleared, the manager could already see her rolling down the track to the rescue.

"That's my girl," he smiled.

Hannah rolled on down the tracks until she finally found Cracker Jack stuck on the third crossing of the railway, "I don't know what happened to me," he groaned, "something blew and I stopped."

"Well don't worry, I'll get you and the passengers back to the railway in no time," Hannah said soothingly.

The fireman climbed down and guided the Driver till Hannah's knuckle coupling was now coupled up to Cracker Jack's front coupling. Then once the guard had been informed of what was going on, the fireman climbed back into the cab, Hannah sounded her whistle, then slowly but surely, the train set off back to the railway.

The manager was pacing the platform back at the railway's main terminus, waiting for the special train to arrive. Finally, he heard a diesel horn, followed by a familar whistle and moments later, the 'wedding' train came back into the station with Hannah showing off her full glory once more. Her Driver eased in the brakes slowly and Hannah stopped right beside the platform.

The manager apologized to the wedding party for what happened, but they weren't cross.

"We still had a very good wedding and we enjoyed the ride," said the groom, "and we especially liked seeing your old steam engine back in action again." All the guests and his new wife agreed with him.

The Driver and fireman climbed down from the cab, "she did a great job today sir, there were no steam leaks and everything ran as smooth as butter."

"That's good, now Hannah can return to service again," the manager paused for a moment before speaking to his engine, "but first, there's something I wish to speak to you about, it's about an event in Tokyo Japan..."

"...and the rest you all know," Hannah concluded.

"Now that's something you don't hear everyday," said Nerine after a moment or so, "just after the overhaul is done, the engine goes to the rescue and brings in a failed engine and it's train."

"We actually had something similar like that happen once before on Sodor," said Toby, "when Henry went to collect the express, although his story is different from Hannah's tale."

"What about Cracker Jack?" Big Mac asked, "was he fixed?"

"Oh yes, after I brought him back to the yards, I shunted him back into the workshops where they fixed him up. When he was fixed, I went back into the shops where I spent the rest of the month getting prepared for my long trip, which included the new coat of paint that I'm wearing now. They said it's only for the festival, when I return back to South Simcoe, I'm going to be given my new paint job back."

"Well I hope you leave soon," grumbled Shamus, but was quickly hushed by the other engines and their friends.

Shamus subsided into silence, as for Hannah, she just smiled and sighed happily, "I wonder how the others are doing right now," she thought only to herself.

**Author's Note:**

Former Canadian Pacific 136's overhaul was actually completed in the summer of 2009 and the rescue operation was based on the story told by the South Simcoe Railway staff during that year. For this story, I decided to have her overhaul be complete in January 2009 and have Cracker Jack (Diesel 703) pull a special Wedding train, considering there are no regular passenger runs during that time of year on the South Simcoe.

_**The Story of Jumbo**_

Besides just the machines, there were plenty of exhibits and vendors to see at the Heritage Festival. Many of the people that came with their machines brought along plenty of antiques from their countries and explained about their uses to the many visitors that came to the festival grounds.

They also told stories from their home countries, some were happy stories and others would stun you and make you subside into silence.

During one afternoon, Kaede and Primula were visiting the Heritage Festival before heading off for home. Rin, Sia and Nerine usually walk home with them, but Rin was helping Asa with a project, Nerine had joined the choir, so she was practising with other students and Sia was out shopping for groceries.

"It's too bad they couldn't join us," Primula said to Kaede, "they would've loved to see this and the engine races too."

At the railway station, some of the Heritage Festival engines were racing from one end of the yards to the points just beyond the station, "ah well, I'm sure they'll get to see all of this some other day," said Kaede, "they do have plenty of time before the last day of the festival next Sunday evening."

"Yeah I guess so," said Primula, then she noticed, "isn't that a circus tent?"

Kaede looked to the direction Primula was looking and saw that there was a small circus tent close by with a banner which read 'Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus History'.

"It is a circus tent and I know why they are here," said Kaede, "Barnum Bailey's Circus is one of the oldest circuses in the entire world and have always had interesting exhibits and attractions."

"How long has it been around?" Primula asked.

"Uh..." Kaede thought about it for a moment, then answered, "you know Rimu, I don't know how long it's been around, why don't we go find out for ourselves."

Primula nodded and with that, the two girls walked into the tent. They learned of how long Barnum & Bailey had been around and they also learned of some of the greatest attractions the circus had over the many years it had been around.

"Hey Kaede, look at this!" Primula shouted to her orange haired friend.

Kaede walked over to where Primula was and looked at what she was looking at, "it says that Jumbo the elephant was Barnum & Bailey's biggest attraction in the 1800's."

"He certainly was," said a voice. Kaede and Primula looked to see one of the curators of the tent coming over to speak with them, "he originally lived in a zoo, but was later on sold to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was one of the biggest elephants ever seen, people came by the dozens to see him either just walking around or performing in the circus. In fact, you can see it in some of the photos and posters here."

Kaede and Primula looked and sure enough, they could see plenty of photographs and posters showing people with happy faces as they saw Jumbo, but there was one photograph that caught Primula's eye, "why is Jumbo laying on his side in this picture?" she asked the curator.

The curator looked at the photograph and sighed unhappily, "that photograph shows Jumbo after the accident where, very sadly, a train struck him and..." he went silent, Kaede and Primula knew what it meant, "I remember the story quite well from my father, who heard it from my grandfather, who heard it from my great grandfather who had been working with the Barnum Bailey circus in those days and was at the sight of the accident in St. Thomas Ontario, would you like to hear about it?"

"Yes please," both girls said in unison.

"Very well then, but just note, this story will leave you speechless after it's done," and so, the curator began to tell the story.

It was a beautiful evening, the circus people and animals had just finished another show in St. Thomas Ontario and were now getting ready to go to another location. Tents were being brought down, animals were being put back in their cages and performers were packing up for their next trip.

"Did you see the happy looks on those people's faces?" asked one of the clowns.

"Yeah I saw their happy faces," said one of the performers, "they were quite happy to see us."

"Yes indeed, but I think what they enjoyed seeing the most is..." the clown was interupted by the sound of a trumpet coming from a big elephant and moments later, Jumbo the Big Circus Elephant walked past them.

"Our friend Jumbo the elephant," the performers said in unison.

After much more packing, the circus was finally ready to go. The journey started off well, but it wasn't going to last for too long...

In the late 1800's, St. Thomas was a very busy railroad town. Besides just the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railways, many american railroads ran throughout the town, there were so many of them that one person could count at least 100 trains a day.

On this evening, a Grand Trunk Western train was rattling along on the rails. The steam engine and it's crew were doing their best to keep to the timetable. The black engine had a cowcatcher in the front, had a double boiler, a very big funnel and a big shiny bell.

"I hope we can see the circus," the engine said to it's crew, "I've always wanted to see them for myself after hearing about it."

"Well you never know old boy," said his Driver, "now please be careful okay? You get too excited and we might run into trouble," little did the Driver know just how true his words were going to be.

The circus was further up ahead of the train, they were just crossing the train tracks when one person saw a headlight in the distance.

"There's a train on the way, we better get a move on," said one of the performers.

And so they did, they hurried to get the circus equipment, people and animals across the tracks, but then they ran into trouble. A little tom-thumb, a small elephant stopped on the tracks.

"Get off the tracks!" cried his trainer, "there's a train coming!"

The train was now getting closer, the bell was ringing and whistle was blowing loud and long.

"Watch out!" cried the engine.

Jumbo saw that the tom-thumb was in trouble and being a brave elephant, he walked forward and pushed the little tom-thumb out of the way, but now he was on the tracks and the train was fast approaching.

"Stop! Stop!" cried the ringmaster.

But by then it was too late to stop, a train can't stop on a dime and this one was of no exception, the engine cried out and shut his eyes...

The curator stopped talking, Kaede and Primula knew why and so did everyone else in the tent, they didn't say a single word. The curator then continued, "the engine jumped off the tracks and as it did, the bell flew away from it and disappeared out of sight and as you can see in the photograph, Jumbo is laying on his side after being struck by the train, it was a sad day for the circus."

"It was brave of Jumbo to save that Tom-thumb," Primula finally said after finding her voice.

"Yes, Jumbo was a hero and to this day, he's still called a hero agmost children and adults and back in St. Thomas Ontario, Canada, there is a statue of Jumbo that everyone can admire."

"What about the bell?" someone in the tent asked, "did they ever find the steam engine's bell."

"No, we've never been able to find the bell. We've dug in the ground around the accident sight and did a lot of searching, but we've never been able to find the bell. Maybe someday we'll find it, but till then, it's whereabouts is still a mystery."

Silence fell in the small circus tent, it was a sad story to hear.

Before leaving to check out the rest of the festival, Kaede and Primula thanked the curator for telling them the story of Jumbo, "it was my pleasure," he said kindly.

A little later, Drew, Sia and Yoshida came by to see the festival. When they met up with Kaede and Primula, the two girls told off the story of Jumbo to their friends and later, as they were passing the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's circus tent, they gave a moment of silence for Jumbo, the Heroic Elephant.

**Author's Note:**

The Story told by the Curator is based on the actual real life event of the 'Jumbo' train accident in St. Thomas Ontario, Canada in the late 1800's.

_**High-Rise Rescue**_

"Stupid thing," grumbled Shamus, "it's giving me a headache."

"Everything around here gives you a headache," smirked Li as he waited with a goods train. Shamus shot him an angry glare and snarled crossly.

The noise was coming from one of the two helicopters that had been attending the Heritage Festival. One of them was one of the earliest helicopters ever brought out and the second was called 'The Flying Wonder', once used for military operations, it's now used to give visitors rides around the museum he lives at and at the festival, he gives them tours around a small portion of the city.

"That thing shoud've been scrapped years ago," snarled Shamus, "helicopters are useless things."

"Not true Shamus," Toby said firmly, "helicopters can do alot of things that we engines can't do. For one; they can go over forest fires or when a building is on fire, they can help get the people out of harm's way, they can also bring injured people to a nearby hospital faster than any of us ever could."

"They can also be used for secret stealth missions for the military too," added Big Mac.

"So you see Shamus, helicopters aren't useless," said Li, then he added with a chuckle, "if you want to see something useless though, ask your Driver to get a mirror and hold it up in front of you." Shamus snarled crossly and shouted at Li, but the American tank engine heard nothing as he departed with his goods train.

A little later, Li was puffing past the busy city district, blowing his whistle to let people know that he was coming through and they should watch out. As he puffed along, Li saw some electricans getting ready to go into a building and for a split second, he thought he spotted a familar face, "no, it couldn't be," he thought to himself.

At the district, he spoke with his crew about who he saw, "as we were going through the city streets, I thought I saw the Track Boss, but in an electrican's uniform."

"Wouldn't surprise me if he was wearing that uniform," said the Driver.

"Why's that?" Li asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Last I heard, that track boss was fired. He wasn't doing his job probably, as you can recall from Courtney's two incidents," Li did remember, all too well, "plus he was often cutting corners and not doing the work properly. To prevent anymore incidents from occuring, the Man in the Suit fired him from his job."

"Well hopefully he's learned a lesson about not cutting corners," added the fireman.

I'm sorry to say that the former Track Boss had not changed a bit as was proven when he and the electricans did their work inside the building, "are you sure you know what you're doing?" asked one of the electricians, "what you're doing might work for now, but it might not last forever."

"It'll be fine," grumbled the former Track Boss, "it'll last for a long time, I can guarantee my job on it."

"Well then you're going to be out of a job before the sun goes down today," muttered the electrician and walked away to do some more work.

"I heard enough of that when I was working on the railway," grumbled the former Track Boss, "I wouldn't have been fired had those engines learned to work safely, I did things by the book."

Of course this was not true, in the past he hadn't done things by the book and with his current work, he was still not going by the book, but he thought he was. He was soon to be proven wrong.

When he had finished his work, he closed up his tool box and walked off to do another job.

Later on, the power was turned back on for that part of the building and that's when the trouble began, sparks flew from the panal box and landed on the floor, but no one saw this, just yet.

When the electrician's work had been completed, the boss did a walk around the building to make sure everything was working perfectly and as he came up to the room the former track boss was working in, he smelled something odd, "I smell smoke," he thought to himself. He walked up the rest of the stairwell and as he came up to the floor, he gasped in horror.

"Oh my goodness!" he exclaimed, "fire!" He ran to the nearest emergency fire alarm and pushed the lever up. A siren went out throughout the entire building and within minutes, people were leaving the building in a frantic hurry. The electrician boss went along the floor to see if anyone else was up there, but found no-one. He made his way back, but discovered that the enterance way to the stairwell was surronded by flames.

He ran to another stairwell and ran as fast as his legs could take him down the stairs and finally rejoining everyone outside.

"The flames are spreading quickly," he said to the other electircians, "I was lucky to get out of there without being burned, but what I don't understand is how this could've happened."

"Why not look over at our newest electrician, a former Track Boss for the Little Tokyo Railway," one electrician said angerily and looked with an eyebrow raised at the former track boss.

"I will talk to you later," said the electrician boss angerily, "but first things first, we need to make sure everyone is out of there."

"Sir! Are you there? Come in sir!" came a voice over his hand-held radio.

"I'm here my boy, I'm outside, where are you?"

"I'm in pretty hot water, or should I say flames," the voice on the other end replied, "I was working three floors above the 'flaming' floor and when I smelled smoke, I tried to get out of here, but the flames blocked my way, so I had to run to the rooftop along with some other workers and now we're all trapped on the roof!"

"You're on the roof?!" exclaimed the boss. Just then, several fire engines pulled up to the burning building, two of them had ladders, "don't worry my boy, help is on it's way up!"

But there was a problem, the ladders weren't tall enough to reach the rooftop of the building, "ladders won't do," groaned the fire cheif, "what we need is a helicopter."

"Too bad we don't have any helicopters," groaned a fire-fighter.

"Maybe so, but there's a couple of helicopters at the Heritage Festival, maybe they can help us," said the electrician's boss.

"They just might, I'll phone the Man in the Suit and see if we can borrow them," said the fire cheif. He got his mobile phone and made the call.

At the Heritage Festival, Jodi the Old Helicopter was telling off a story about one of her first missions when she saw the Man in the Suit and Captain Jay running up towards her, "Jodi, we need you and Flying Wonder to help with a rescue mission."

"A rescue mission? What kind of rescue mission?" she asked.

"A building has caught fire and there are some people trapped on top of the building," answered Captain Jay, "some rescuers are on their way now with the proper equipment, there isn't a moment to lose, lives are on the line."

"Don't worry sirs, we're ready to go!" said Flying Wonder with determination in his voice.

The rescuers soon arrived, they got all their equipment on board the helicopters, then the heritage helicopters took off to the rescue.

By the time the helicopters arrived, smoke was bellowing high into the sky and surronding the rooftop of the building. Many of the people trapped on the roof were in a panic, but others, namely the electiricians, were staying calm and trying to calm everyone else down.

The helicopters were moved into position and rescuers were roped down. This rescue operation though was going to be difficult as they couldn't land on the roof, so they had to lift the stranded people up, one at a time. Still though, the helicopters, pilots and rescuers worked very hard to get everyone off the roof.

It took a half hour, but soon all the workers were off the roof and the fire department had finally put the flames out, the fire had damaged the building, but all the workers and electricians were safe. The workers blamed the former Track Boss at first, then they thanked the rescuers, pilots and helicopters for saving them from the flames.

"You might be old helicopters, but you sure saved our lives today," the workers said to the helicopters, "we don't know what would've happened to us if you two were not here. Thank you for saving us."

Later on, as Li was passing by with an empty goods train, he saw people shouting at the former Track Boss, blaming him for the fire. Li was wondering what was going on, but once he saw the helicopters and the black soot on the building, he soon got a good idea of what happened.

When he reached the yards, he spoke to Shamus, "I think the helicopters just proved you wrong Shamus," he said with a sly smile.

"What are you talking about?" Shamus snarled.

But he soon found out as the story spread and people seemed to swarm around the helicopters when they landed. Shamus did stop saying that helicopters were useless, but he still complained about the noise they made. I guess there are just some things that will never change about him.

Now I bet you're wondering about the former track boss, right? Well, he was fired once again and left on this note, "the only way you're going to be able to keep a job is if you admit that temporary situations don't always work and you follow instructions _properly_," hopefully the former Track Boss will learn that lesson before he causes another disaster, don't you agree?

**Author's Note:**

This story was deeply inspired by an electrical experiment where two people showed what happens when a power panal is meddled with incorrectly and also based on a real life event where a building had caught on fire, leaving people trapped on the roof of the building. A helicopter came to rescue them, but couldn't land on the roof, so it had to lift the people off the roof, one at a time. Luckily, everyone escaped the burning building, where and when it happened is unknown.

_**The End!**_


	31. Little Tokyo Kids Long Ago

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 31**_

_**Little Tokyo Kids Long Ago**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Recently, as the Heritage Festival was drawing to a close, four of our friends have told off stories about their childhood years. Sia, Yoshida, Mayumi and Kaede each told a story to their friends and those friends have asked me if I could write up a book featuring their stories. Well, I couldn't say no and so, here are the stories of four of our Little Tokyo Friends when they were growing up._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-A Friendship Begins

-How Did She Know?

-Eternal Friendship

-Kaede & Sakura

_**A Friendship Begins**_

The Fesitval was almost over, there were only two more days to go, then the visitors would be going home. Shamus was glad of this and he said so on the Saturday morning, "now I'll have less headaches from listening to those stupid stories," he said rudely, "now if only I can stop your so called friends from coming here."

"At least the other engines have friends," Sia said crossly when she heard this, "Who'd want to be friends with you?"

"Besides, if you try anything like you did with Yoshida, we engines will give you such a bumping," added Li firmly.

"Whatever," sniffed Shamus, "friendship is not for me, it's a complete waste of time," with that said, Shamus puffed out of the sheds and headed off to his spot at the Heritage Festival.

"That engine's got an ego the size of Tokyo," grumbled Sia crossly, "it's any wonder he doesn't learn from his punishments."

"I can agree with you there," said Li, "I wish someone would take him down a peg or two and remind him that he's not the best engine in the entire world."

"Someone is doing that Li," said his Driver, "and that's the Man in the Suit, remember?"

"Oh yeah, he's trying to get Shamus to stop acting so stupid, but I don't think it's really working, what do you think Sia?"

But when Li looked down to his red headed friend, he saw that she was looking away from the sheds and over to the roads. He looked over to the roads himself and saw just what she was looking at. It was Rin, he was walking along with Asa beside him and with her arms wrapped around his right arm. Sia sighed quietly as she watched them.

"Don't worry Sia, you'll find someone someday," Li said kindly to her.

"I know that Li, I just hope that person will be just as good as Rin is and was."

Li raised an eyebrow, "what do you mean 'was'?" he asked curiously, "did you two meet years before you moved to Earth?"

"Oh yeah," Sia said with a cheerful tone in her voice, "I met Rin when I was just a kid. As you may remember Li, a portal from my world and Rina's world came to Earth about eleven years ago, which allowed beings from both of our worlds to come here."

"Yeah I remember hearing that from Nerine one night."

"Well it was one year after the portals came to Earth that my dad and I came here on a little vacation," she paused before adding with a chuckle, "it's a lot of work being king, so that's why he came here and brought me along with him..."

Sia had never really gone anywhere outside the palace she lived at, other than to Nerine's palace, so when her father said that he was going to Earth for a little vacation, Sia eagerly asked him; "can I go with you? Please?" She asked with pleading eyes.

"Well...okay, I don't see a reason why not, but you have to stay close to me, okay sweetheart?"

"Okay daddy," she said sweetly.

The two of them arrived in the City of Tokyo the following next day. The two of them spent the entire day just walking around and checking out the sights and not once did Sia ever let go of her father's hand...that was until the Mid-Afternoon.

Eustoma and his daughter were going to head over to the hotel they were to be staying at and they decided, just to see what it'd be like, to ride on a bus. Unfortunately, on that particular day, there were lots of people waiting to get on the bus, they crowded all around them and often pushed to see if the bus was coming.

"Hey, watch it!" cried Sia, but no one seemed to notice her.

Finally, a bus came into view, "come on Sia, let's go," said her father.

Sia followed very closely, but she never got onto the bus with him. People were shoving and pushing to get on the bus first and because they were doing that, they got in between Sia and her father and as a result, Sia lost grip of her father's hand. She tried to push threw the crowd, but soon found herself under the shelter of the bus stop.

"Where's the bus?" she cried.

She then heard a clang and looked back to see the bus with her father riding on board, rolling away from her. Sia tried to catch up, but tripped over her own feet and by the time she looked up, the bus was already heading off into the distance, without her on board.

"Come back!" she cried again, but the bus didn't, it continued on until it disappeared from Sia's view.

Now the little red head was on her own, unfamilar with her new surrondings and unsure of what to do. She should've remembered what her mother said to her once, "_if you get lost, stay where you are and we'll come find you_," but Sia had forgotten about that, she didn't want to be alone anymore and so, she took off.

By the time her father finally got back to the bus stop, Sia was nowhere to be seen.

"Sia!" he shouted, "where are you?" But no answer came.

Sia in the meanwhile was sitting underneath a slide with tears pouring down from her eyes. She was very scared and worried that she would never see her parents ever again.

"What am I going to do now?" she whimpered quietly to herself.

"Are you okay?" asked a young voice.

Sia looked to the direction of the voice and found a young black haired boy, roughly around her age, standing near the stairs. The boy was, of course, Rin Tsuchimi.

"Uh...no, no I'm not okay, I'm lost," she answered, "I got seperated from my dad at the bus stop and now, he'll never find me."

"Never say never, I'm sure he'll find you," he said kindly, "I bet you he'll find you any second now. Till then, do you want to play with me?"

"Uh...sure, I would love to play."

And young Rin was right, Sia's dad did show up in a less than a minute. He saw his little girl sliding down the slide and taking turns with her new friend, which made him smile. Sia looked over towards him and called out; "can I play with my new friend for a while?" she asked.

"Of course you can!" her father called back with a smile on his face, "you can play with your new friend. I'll be at the bus stop if you need me."

With that confirmed, the two kids continued to play games in the park. During that time, they introduced themselves and got to learn a bit about each other too. Rin even told Sia of what he was doing for his friend Kaede, Sia was impressed with Rin and thought he was an amazing friend.

They played on throughout the entire afternoon, that was until the dark clouds began to roll in and rain poured down from them.

"Well it is the raining season, it was bound to show up sooner or later," Rin said quietly, then he noticed that Sia was just staring at the rain as if she liked it, "do you like the rain?"

"Yeah, I think it's very beautiful," she answered cheerfully, "but it is a little wet."

"Yeah it is and it might get you sick if you stay out in it too long. I better get you back to your father before you get sick," but there was a problem, Rin hadn't brought a jacket or sweater with him, so he couldn't give it to Sia to keep her dry.

So while the young red head stayed underneath the slide, Rin looked all around for something to keep Sia dry and soon he found it. It was an old umbrella in a trash bin, "it's not perfect, but at least it'll keep you dry Sia," he said.

He opened it up, then once Sia walked out from under the slide, she and Rin began to walk towards the bus stop.

As they walked along though, Sia noticed that Rin was getting soaked and soon found out why. The umbrella had a few holes on Rin's side and as a result of it, rain was pouring down on Rin. He was doing this to keep Sia dry, "he really is a sweet guy for doing this," she thought to herself, "but still..."

It was at that moment that Sia wrapped both her arms around Rin's right arm and rested her head on his shoulder, thus bringing herself closer to him.

"Now you can stay dry like me," she said cheerfully.

"Thanks Sia, that's real sweet of you," he said with a smile. Sia smiled back, then she stopped walking and before Rin could ask why she stopped, she stood up on her toes and kissed him on the right side of his face. Rin blushed a little, then the two continued on their way to the bus stop.

"...and that's what I meant Li," said Sia as she finished her story, "Rin was a kind boy at a young age and he still is to this day. If I hadn't met Rin that day, I probably would've stayed hidden under the slide and my dad would never have found me. Plus, I wouldn't have had a reason for coming to Tokyo many years later, and it's that kind of personality I'm going to be looking for in my future boyfriend."

"I see," Li said quietly before asking, "do you think Rin still remembers that day?"

"Oh I'm sure he does..." she paused before adding, "truth be told, shortly after Rina and I arrived here on Earth, I experienced a bit of a Deja Vu moment on a rainy day."

"Did you two kiss?" Li asked with a raised eyebrow again.

Sia blushed, but didn't answer the question with words. She said good-bye to Li, then set off to check out the festival. She didn't need to say any words, Li already knew the answer.

"I thought so," he muttered quietly with a small smile on his face.

_**How Did She Know?**_

At the festival grounds, Yoshida was having a nice little chat with Toby while his crew was talking with some of the visitors about Toby's past. Toby was telling her about the time he helped Farmer McColl in one of the worst snowstorms Sodor had ever seen.

"The bridge creaked and it groaned, I thought it was going to break," Toby was saying, "but I knew that the animals needed help, so we struggled on and got to the other side safely."

"That was brave of you Toby," Yoshida smiled, "but weren't you scared?"

"Just a little, but in an emergency, you have to conquer your fears, like crossing an old disused bridge, and struggle on to help those in need."

Yoshida smiled admiringly at her tram engine friend, "yeah I guess you're right Toby and maybe someday I'll do something like that."

"Perhaps, you never really know." Just saying that reminded Toby of something he never got the answer to, "speaking of which, you never did answer my question when we first met. Since the Thin Clergyman's books and the television show have not reached Tokyo, how did you know about me?"

"Well..." but Yoshida was cut off by a loud shrill whistle.

It was Shamus, trying to show off and shoo Yoshida away at the same time, "stop talking to that stupid little brat!" he snapped angerily, "the less I see of her the better!"

"Shut up Shamus," snapped his Driver, "and please behave yourself."

"Whatever," Shamus grunted and puffed off to another part of the yards.

"It's okay Yoshida, he's gone now," Toby said calmly.

Poor Yoshida was shaking nervously after that little scare, but after much soothing from Toby and his crew, Yoshida finally calmed down and continued where she left off, "well Toby, I learned about you years ago when I visited my cousins Vypra, Rachel and Asuna," and this is the story that Yoshida told.

The year was 1999 and young seven year old Yoshida was visiting the Island of Sodor for the very first time. Although she was nervous, she was excited about seeing her favourite Aunt and Uncle, who were the parents of Rachel, Vypra and Asuna the three terrible sisters. Originally she was suppose to come with her sister, but Sakura had left her all alone at the airport, so she went by herself to Sodor.

"I wish I knew where I was suppose to go," she groaned.

"Hello Yoshida," said a kind voice from nearby. The little girl turned around and to her relief, there was her favourite uncle, "what are you doing here all by yourself? Where's Sakura?"

"She left me all alone," Yoshida answered sadly.

Her uncle sighed unhappily, "typical of that girl, she's really taking after your father, I will personally have a chat with them later. In the meantime, let's get going okay?"

"Okay," Yoshida said sweetly.

When they got to the house, Yoshida was given an unfriendly welcome by the terrible sisters, "oh look, it's the little pip-squeak Yoshida," teased Rachel.

"Where's Sakura?" asked Vypra.

"She probably didn't want to come with that little pip-squeak," said Asuna, "she'd probably get embarrased by that little fool."

"That's enough!" snapped their mother, "show Yoshida some kindness for goodness sakes and please stop with the attitudes already, cause if you don't, you're going to end up in nothing but trouble in the future."

"Yeah right," they all said, rolling their eyes in the same way Shamus does nowadays, then they left, laughing as they went and calling Yoshida a 'loser'.

"Are they always like that?" Yoshida asked, sounding offended by what the sisters said.

"Sadly yes, they're always like that," her Aunt answered, "the best thing you can do is just to ignore them and enjoy your visit here."

"I'll try," she said. Then she noticed that her uncle was getting ready to leave, "where are you going Uncle?" she asked curiously.

"I got to get to work," he answered, "my engine is waiting for me back at the quarry, her name is Mavis..." then a thought came to him, "would you like to come to the quarry with me Yoshida?"

Yoshida wasn't sure at first, so she asked her Aunt, "would it be okay if I go?"

"Of course it's okay if you go," her Aunt answered, "just make sure you listen to all the instructions and don't go wondering off without your uncle. Oh and don't worry about your belongings, I'll unpack them for you."

With that confirmed, Yoshida went with her uncle down to the quarry where they found Mavis being refueled, "good morning," Mavis called cheerfully. She then noticed someone standing behind her Driver, "who is that? Doesn't look like any of your girls."

"She's my brother's daughter from Tokyo," her Driver answered, "her name is Yoshida, she's quite shy, but I'm sure she'll come around to talk to you sometime during her visit here."

"Well I sure hope she does, cause I would like to get to know her."

The foreman stepped down from Mavis' cab, "she's all ready for work," he said, "alot of stone needs to be moved out of the quarry, so you'll have to do alot of shunting and taking multiple trains."

"If we're going to be doing that much work today, then we'll probably need to take megatrains with us today."

"Nope, just take the usual amount of trucks with you," chuckled the foreman, "Toby will be coming by later to pick up some of the stone trucks."

"That's a relief," sighed Mavis.

"Alright Mavis," her Driver said after he and Yoshida had climbed onboard, "let's get to work."

Shunting the quarry trucks was going to be an easy task for Mavis, but when it came time to move the trucks out of the quarry, that's when they ran into trouble. The trucks were comfortable and didn't want to move from where they were.

"You can't make us move," they said rudely, "you can't! You can't!"

"Oh but I can, just you wait and see," grunted Mavis and revved her engine harder. Despite her best efforts, Mavis could not move the train, "oh for pete's sake! Get moving you stupid trucks!"

Just then, they heard the ringing of a bell and moments later, an old fashioned brown tram engine with the number seven on both of his sides came steaming into the quarry and stopped beside Mavis.

"Having a bit of trouble there Mavis?" Toby asked kindly.

"Yes I am," panted Mavis, "these quarry trucks are making it very difficult for me to get moving out of the quarry, which means I'm going to be late."

"Don't worry about the trucks Mavis, I'll take care of this lot."

"Thanks Toby and good luck," Mavis was uncoupled, then she backed away from the train.

As Toby backed onto the trucks, Yoshida looked out the cab windows to see what was going on. She watched as Toby bumped the trucks firmly and spoke sternly to them, then she watched as he pulled them away with ease.

Later, when he returned, Yoshida watched as Toby did some shunting.

Mavis' Driver had noticed this as they worked, "hmm, seems Cousin Yoshida has an interest in our old reliable Toby," he thought to himself, "I wonder if she would like...yes, I'll go get some of those tonight."

After the working day was done, Yoshida was dropped off back at the house while her uncle went off to the town of Ffarquhar. The three bad sisters tormented the poor girl for a while, at least till their mother told them to stop and go to their rooms.

"I'll make sure to keep a closer eye on them during the rest of your visit here Yoshida," her Aunt said kindly to her, "they won't be causing you anymore trouble, I promise."

Just then, her uncle came back in, "sorry it took me so long to get back, I got caught in traffic on my way home."

"That's alright," said his wife, "but where did you go?"

"I went out to the bookstore. After I saw Yoshida watch our favourite tram engine all day, I went out and bought her these books," he held out the books and gave them to Yoshida. Both of the books were featuring pictures of the tram engine she had been watching all day.

"Are these really for me?" she asked.

"Yes Yoshida, those are yours now and you can read about Toby's adventures anytime you want."

"Oh thank you," she smiled. She walked up to her uncle and gave him a big hug, "I'll take good care of them, I promise."

"I know you will," smiled her uncle as he hugged her back.

"...and I did keep my promise," concluded Yoshida. She reached into her small bag and pulled out two books, both of them featuring a picture of Toby on the front cover.

"So that's how you knew about me," said Toby, then he thought of something, "if it hadn't been for those trucks, you and I could've met that day."

"Maybe, but you know what, I was still happy when you and I _officially_ met, that was one of the best days of my life. Even though we did run into some trouble from..."

There was a loud crash coming from down the siding. Toby's crew, Yoshida and pretty much everyone at the festival looked to see what had happened. It was Shamus, he come off the rails...again! He had gone too fast and went threw the buffers at the end of the siding.

"Shamus," Yoshida and Toby said in unison, continuing where Yoshida left off.

"Well you know something Yoshida, that day was one of the best days of my life too," Toby whispered softly to her.

Yoshida just smiled as Toby's crew climbed into the cab, then took him over to the siding to help Shamus back onto the rails again.

_**Eternal Friendship**_

If you didn't know Mayumi and Itsuki and you saw them talking for the first time, you would think those two were never friends, but as many of their friends will say, those two really are friends, which was cleared up for one of the Little Tokyo Engines one day...

It was the last day of the festival and Courtney was shunting some trucks into sidings at the Warehouse District. Her fireman had taken ill earlier that day, so Nerine took over as the temporary fireman.

"Okay, slow her down, you're reaching the end of the siding!" she called up to the Driver.

He applied the brakes slowly and Courtney slowed to a smooth stop with inches to spare in between the rear knuckle coupling and the bumper stop, "perfect!" Nerine called.

"Well that's the last of them," said the Driver, "once Laura shows up with her goods train, we'll get our next train and go back to the docks."

Just then, they heard some shouting coming from outside, followed by a loud thud!

"Crack my dome, what in blazes was that?" Courtney asked in surprise.

"If I had to guess, I would say it's Mayumi and Itsuki having a little talk again," sighed Nerine.

Moments later, Itsuki came into view, rubbing the back of his head and groaning. He looked back for a moment, then he took off.

"And you'll get the same treatment if you say that again!" snapped another voice. Mayumi came into view, waving her fist at Itsuki while she had an angry look on her face, "what a baka."

"Was Itsuki making fun of you again?" Nerine called out to her grey haired friend.

"Yep, he was at it again, just like most men do," she said as she walked into the warehouse, "I hate it when they do this, just because I'm so different from other girls."

"I can understand how you feel Mayumi," said Courtney, "some people make fun of me for being a little different, even Emily knows what it's like," she shuddered, remembering the incident involving Emily, Nerine and the fan-club. "It's no wonder then why you and Itsuki are not friends at all."

"Actually, Itsuki and I are friends, we always have been since we were kids."

"Beg pardon?" Courtney asked with a raised eyebrow, she was quite surprised to hear those words come out of Mayumi's mouth.

"It's true, Itsuki and I have been friends for quite a long time."

"Well he has a funny way of showing that he's your friend," said Courtney, "teasing you like that all the time."

"It's just who he is, he can't help himself at times, but..." she went on, "he did help me once when I was a young little girl, I remember that day as if it was yesterday..."

On a clear bright sunny day, seven year old Mayumi was going off to the market with her mother.

"Now remember Mayumi, if you behave yourself today, I'll get you a new toy."

"Sure mommy," she said, but she didn't sound like she meant what she said.

Like any child at a young age, Mayumi was a bit of an adventurous girl who liked to go exploring all on her own. She liked to go exploring and on previous trips, she would run off and explore without her parents, but she would soon return to them with a big smile on her face.

"I mean it this time sweetie, you nearly gave your father and me heart failure last time we out for goodness sakes," her mother said firmly to her, "so please, stay close to me and don't go wandering off."

"Alright I won't," she groaned, but that was before they got to the store.

The store itself was one of the biggest stores Mayumi had ever seen, she thought it was impressive and wanted more than ever to go exploring. So when her mother wasn't looking, Mayumi took off and didn't look back to her mother.

Mayumi had a wonderful time running around the place, she felt like a kid in a candy store and one point during her run, she really was a kid in a candy section. Other sections of the store she checked out included the toy section, the movie section and even took the time to read some children's books, "this store is amazing," she cheered happily.

But the fun was soon to come to an end. After she was done exploring, she ran to find her mother, but she wasn't at the front doors and she wasn't in the clothes section and she wasn't in the food section.

"Where is she?" she asked herself with a worried tone in her voice.

Then she remembered something her dad said to her once before...

"_If you run away from us one more time, we'll leave both the store and you behind and never come back._"

He wasn't really being serious when he had said that, but Mayumi believed every word and thought that her mother had left the store without her, "what will I do now?" she groaned to herself, "I don't want to live in a store forever. Mommy!" she cried and ran to find her.

She wasn't watching where she was going and ran smack into another person, knocking them both down to the ground.

"My glasses!" cried the other person, "where did they go? I can't see anything without them."

Mayumi groaned as she got up and found the other person's glasses, "here they are, I'm sorry for bumping into you," she apologized. She grabbed them and handed them back to the other person.

"It's alright," said the other person, who was a boy that got Mayumi to blush the moment she saw him. He had brown hair, wore a black shirt, dark blue jeans and with white running shoes on as well, "I guess it's my fault," said the boy, "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Me neither," groaned the girl, then she started shedding some tears.

"What's wrong?" the boy asked kindly.

"I can't find my mommy, I think she left me behind," Mayumi sobbed.

The boy showed a reassuring smile, then he reached into one of his pockets, pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to the girl, "I don't think she would leave you behind," he said kindly, "if your mommy really cares about you, then she would stay and look for you."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah I do," he nodded, "I bet you that she's looking for you right now, all you got to do is wait here until she shows up."

"I don't know if I can wait," she groaned.

"Well if you like, I'll stay with you until she comes."

"You really do that for me?"

"Of course I would," the boy nodded.

"Thank you," Mayumi said, showing her smile again.

And that's what they did, Mayumi and the brown haired boy stayed right where they were. Waiting though was difficult for Mayumi, all she wanted to do was to run and look for her mother.

"Are you sure we shouldn't go looking?" Mayumi asked.

"I'm sure, you just wait here and she'll find you," he said.

They waited and waited, then finally after all that waiting, Mayumi's mom finally came into view. She ran up to her little girl, picked her up and gave her a big hug, "oh Mayumi, why did you run away again? You know it scares me."

"I was scared too," Mayumi said, looking very sorry for once, "I won't do it again I promise," she then looked down to the boy, "thank you for waiting with me."

"I'm glad to have helped," he smiled. "I hope we can meet again, I really enjoyed spending time with you."

"I would like that too," she smiled, "my name is Mayumi by the way, what's yours?"

"Mine is Itsuki."

"Well thank you Itsuki for all your help," said Mayumi's mother, "for what you did, you can play with my daughter anytime you want," and just before she and Mayumi went off to the cashier, Mayumi's mother wrote down their phone number and handed it to Itsuki.

"See you later Itsuki!" Mayumi called as they left.

"See you later Mayumi!" he called and waved back till they were out of sight.

"...ever since then, Itsuki and I have been friends and although he's changed his ways a bit," Mayumi muttered as she was concluding her story, "he's still a good friend and I know I can always count on him if I ever need help."

Again, Courtney could not believe what she heard, "okay so you guys are friends, but I never knew that he had a good side to him."

"Oh he does," Mayumi smiled as she turned to leave, "many people might not know it, but I know it and one day, if he ever changes his attitude, it just might return...I kind of like that side of him," and with her cheeks blushing red, Mayumi walked out of the shops and back out to the streets.

_**Kaede & Sakura**_

Back at the big railway station, many visitors, including Kaede and Asa, were checking out the rest of the exhibits before the festival drew to a close that night. "This has been some festival," said Asa, "we sure learned alot from the visitors and exhibits here more than we've ever learned in school, don't you think?"

"A little bit yes," Kaede giggled.

There were still lots of people visiting the Heritage Festival, but one person in particular caught Kaede's eye right away. She saw a person taking a look at Big Mac with great interest.

"Is something wrong Kaede?" Asa asked.

"Huh?" Kaede looked back towards Asa, "did you say something?"

"Yeah, I just asked if you're okay. You looked like you were staring at something."

"Not some-_thing_ Asa, but some-_one,_" and without saying another word, Kaede walked over towards the person. The person that she was walking towards had long solid black hair with two pony tails being held up by two bright blue ribbons. She also had a brown jacket on and wore a black skirt. "Sakura?" she called out.

The black haired girl looked up, then turned her head and looked to see who the voice belonged to, "Kaede?" she gasped.

"Yes," she nodded, "it's good to see you again Sakura."

"It's good to see you too," the black haired girl smiled. She ran up to Kaede and gave her a friendly hug, "my gosh I haven't seen you since we were ten years old. Goodness me, you've really grown up since then."

"So have you."

"Are you two old friends?" Big Mac asked.

"Yes we are. Big Mac...and Asa," Kaede said, turning back to her green haired friend, "this is my childhood friend, Sakura Yae, she's been my friend since we were eight years old."

"Well it's nice to meet Sakura Yae," said Asa, "any friend of Kaede's is a friend of mine, but how come we've never met you before?"

"It's mostly because I wasn't living here over the last few years," she answered, "my family and I had moved to Pittsburg Pennsylvania when I was only ten years old."

"Most recently though," she continued, "my parents got new jobs right here in Tokyo and so we moved back to the city I call home. As for the festival, I only just found out about it this morning and so I decided to come here. I'd say I made the right call coming here, not only do I get to see heritage machines, like Big Mac here, and learn about different countries around the world, but I also get to meet up with one of my best friends again."

"And it's also a good thing that Kaede looked over here, otherwise we would've just walked on by and never notice you," said Asa.

"I hope you don't mind if I ask this," piped up Big Mac, "but how did you two meet in the first place?"

"Well as you know Big Mac," said Kaede, "I had a huge grudge towards Rin following my mother's..." she paused and looked down to the ground with a sad look. She sighed unhappily and then continued, "Rin told me that it was his fault that she was gone and I believed his every word. After that day, I did anything I could to avoid him and it was because I was doing that that I offically met Sakura."

And this is the story Kaede told...

It was a day like any other, the sun was shining, birds were singing and Kaede was walking home with Rin following close behind, "hey Kaede!" he called to her, "when we get back home, can we work on our homework together?"

"No," she answered angerily.

"But why?" he asked, "two minds working together are better than one mind working alone."

"I don't want to work with you, I don't want to be anywhere near you," she said crossly and then, she stopped walking.

Rin ran up to her with a look of concern on his face, "are you alright Kaede?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she answered angerily and looked away, "tell Daddy I'm going to be a little late getting home, I'm going to play in the park for a bit...oh and don't follow me like you did last time. I mean it," she said with a tone of voice that scared Rin.

"Sure Kaede, whatever you say...just be careful okay?"

"I'll be fine," she sniffed.

To make sure Rin didn't follow her, Kaede stayed right where she was and watched as he walked away. Once he had disappeared into the distance, Kaede headed off to the nearest play-park.

The play park wasn't as big as the other playgrounds, there were only two swings, a slide and a small sandbox. When Kaede arrived, she found only one person there and that person was a girl, around her age, with solid black hair, wore a pink shirt and a little red skirt.

"Hello there!" called the little girl cheerfully, "my name is Sakura, what's yours?"

"Mine's Kaede."

"Nice to meet you Kaede, do you want to build a sandcastle with me?"

"Sure," Kaede nodded.

Before getting into the sandbox, Kaede looked over both her shoulders to see if Rin had followed her, but she couldn't see him, "good," she thought to herself, "he actually listened to me for once."

Kaede spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Sakura in the play-park, mostly building that sand castle. They worked on it for quite a while and by the time the sun had gone down for the day, they had finished building their very big sandcastle.

"Wow, now that is the biggest sandcastle I've ever seen," said Sakura.

Kaede also had to admit that it was one of the biggest sandcastles she had ever seen.

"Sakura!" called a voice from nearby, "it's time to come home!"

"Coming mommy!" she called back, then she spoke to Kaede, "would you like to play with me again tomorrow Kaede?" Kaede thought about it, then she nodded with a smile, "alright then, I'll see you here tomorrow afternoon!"

Sakura turned and ran off for home, Kaede waved to her until she was out of sight.

They did meet up the next day and the next and for many days for the next couple of years, if the weather was good, the two young girls would meet up at the same play-park and play their games or build castles, either with sand or snow in the winter. They would always have fun.

Kaede did eventually tell Sakura about Rin one day, "that dumb baka, it's all his fault," she said angerily, "I wish he would just leave me alone and get out of my life."

"I don't think you should say something like that Kaede," said Sakura, "sure Rin is at fault for what happened, but you can't always be mad at him."

"So I should talk to him after what he did?"

"I'm not saying you should., but someday you might. My mommy always says you should never hold a grudge forever, what's important is that you forgive and forget."

"I won't forgive him and I won't forget what he did."

"Maybe for now, but maybe someday in the future you'll change your mind."

Something was going to change in the future, but it wasn't Kaede's mind on hating Rin, it was going to be something else.

On a chilly winter's day, ten year old Kaede Fuyou arrived at the play-park and found Sakura sitting on the swing set with a sad look upon her face, "what's wrong Sakura?" she asked kindly, "why do you look so sad?"

"I'm moving away in two days," she answered sadly.

"You're moving away?!" Kaede asked in surprise, "but why?"

"My mommy and daddy got new jobs in some place called Pittsburg, so we have to move there."

"But it's not fair," Kaede groaned, "how are we suppose to play together if you move away?"

"I guess we can't," Sakura answered sadly. She looked away from Kaede, she didn't want her orange haired friend to see her crying. Kaede did see her crying and to help cheer her up, Kaede walked up to her and gave her a soothing hug, but it didn't help. Sakura continued to cry and so did Kaede.

Two days later, Sakura and her family were ready to go. Kaede was there to see them off, "good bye Sakura, I'm going to miss you."

"And I'm going to miss you too Kaede, I'll never forget you or the castles we've built together."

"Neither will I," she said.

With their last good-byes said, Sakura climbed into the car, then she waved to Kaede as they drove away. Kaede waved back to Sakura until the car was out of sight.

"...once Sakura and her family were gone, I ran home with tears in my eyes," Kaede said as she concluded the story, "I never thought that I would ever see her again."

"Well you're seeing me now," Sakura chuckled with a smile on her face, "and you're going to be seeing alot of me now that I'm back."

"That's good," Kaede smiled, "it's good to have you back Sakura."

"Thanks Kaede...hey, do you want to go over to the play-park for old times sake?" Kaede thought about it for a moment, then she nodded, "great and while we're there, we can catch up on what's been going on."

"Sure," Kaede smiled, "cause there's alot I have to tell you."

Big Mac and Asa watched as the two girls left the festival grounds, smiling and talking like the friends they were, "it's nice to see two old friends getting together after so many years and catching up on old times," Big Mac smiled.

Asa was quick to agree, "just goes to show that you'll never know what you'll find when you go to a big event like this Heritage Festival."

_**The End!**_


	32. More About Sia and James the Red Engine

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 32**_

_**More About Sia and James the Red Engine**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000 and D.J. Scales**_

Dear Friends,

_Trouble has returned to the City of Tokyo and it came in the form of the Tokyo Terrors and their fours bosses, all of them you have read about in the previous books of this series and worst still, one of our Little Tokyo Friends got blamed for a crime she never even commited. Thanks to them, chaos was seen all over the city, but most of it was occuring on the Little Tokyo Railroad. Thankfully though, the Tokyo Terrors have been stopped. How? Well, you'll have to read the stories to find out what happened._

The Authors

**Stories Included:**

-Reunions

-Margaret's Wrath

-Shadow of Fear

-Thunderstruck

-The Light at the End of the Tunnel

_**Reunions**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000/Special Thanks to D.J. Scales for the Ideas**_

Although it was a chilly day in March, it was nice and sunny, which Sia very happy as she was out and about doing some errands. She was walking on the sidewalk that runs alongside the Little Tokyo Railroad for some distance, thinking about a certain red engine she once knew, "I wonder how James is doing right now," she thought to herself, "I do miss that engine, I swear I can hear his whistle right now."

WHOO! WHOO! sounded a whistle in the distance.

"Spooky," Sia muttered quietly and looked down the tracks. But it wasn't James who was coming down the tracks, it was Courtney with a couple of flatbeds behind her. On the flatbeds were two strange looking carriages with small cabs on their fronts and with two different nameplates just below their cab windows. The nameplates read 'Rex' and 'Tex'.

"I wonder where the Man in the Suit got those carriages," Sia thought to herself, "Guess I'll find out later."

And she did when she went to the railroad station later that day. The station itself was empty, there were no trains and no people waiting to get on board the passenger carriages, the only sound that could be heard was Sia's shoes as she walked along on the platform.

"Wow, I've never been to the station when there are no trains around," she said quietly, "or when there's nobody around."

She had spoken too soon as a door was opened and a man stepped out of one of the offices, it was the Man in the Suit, "oh hello Sia, what brings you here today?"

"Nothing really, except that I was wondering about those strange looking carriages on Courtney's flatbed earlier," she said.

"Ah yes, I see you've seen Rex and Tex," he said, "they're going to be the new commuter engines for the new city line when it's complete. They're safer to use on that line because their bodywork prevents anything or anyone from going underneath them. Till then though," he contined, "they will be at the district being given special tests and then their official coat of paint."

"What's their paint color going to be?"

"I can't answer that question yet mostly because...I don't know what their colors are going to be," he said with a nervous chuckle.

At that moment, a dockyard worker came walking up to the station, "sir, that special delivery has just been unloaded," he said.

"Most excellent," the Man in the Suit then looked over to Sia, "you might to see this one Sia."

"Why, what is it?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

Sia, slightly confused, walked away from the station and over towards the dockyards.

When she arrived, she found a bright red tender engine sitting on one of the tracks close to the big ship. He had two front wheels, six driving wheels and had a bright yellow dome, he also had a number five on both sides of his tender. Just by looking at him, Sia knew who this was.

She ran up to him with a big smile on her face, "Hello Sia!" the red engine called, "it's good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you again James," Sia smiled, "it's amazing, I was just thinking about you earlier today and here you are. How have you been doing my Sudrian friend?"

"Quite well, except now I'm not pulling as many passenger trains as I used to, especially the express," James grunted under his breath, "with the likes of Alistor, Hank and Murdoch on the main line, my chances of pulling the passenger trains have been cut down badly and I'm always stuck with goods trains."

"Oh quit whining James," said his Driver, "you know the Fat Controller gives every one of you main line engines a chance to pull the express."

"Oh really? Then why has it been months since I last pulled the express? Can you answer that for me?" His Driver didn't answer the question, "didn't think so."

"Hey cousin, long time no see!" called another voice from James' cab. A young teenage girl, roughly around the same age as Sia, stepped down from the cab with her red hair blowing in the wind. She also had short pointy ears and a jacket on with the Crovan's Gate Steamworks Logo on the back.

"Can it be? Margaret?"

"Yes, but call me Maggie, you know I don't like it when people or engines call me by my full name."

"As some already know," James muttered while chuckling.

"Just remember this Margaret," her father said firmly to her, "coming here with us is a privilege and so help me, if you cause any trouble, you'll be spending the entire time in a hotel room."

"Don't worry yourself dad, what kind of trouble can I get into around here?"

"Need we remind you of the time when you threw a wrench at Sir Handel cause he was making jokes?" said the fireman, "or of the time when you dented Diesel's buffers because of his insulting words?"

"And let's not forget the incident when you broke Henry's dome when he was joking about how silly you looked after you cleaned out James' cab one night," added her father.

"Okay, so I have a bit of a temper problem, but I'll try to keep it under control here," said Maggie.

"I sure hope you can Maggie."

"Anyways," Sia piped up, "what brings you all here?"

"Well the Man in the Suit wants me to help out with some of the workloads for a little bit, at least until his new engine comes to the railroad."

"Another engine?" gasped Sia, "how many engines is he planning on getting?"

While the two cousins, James and the crew spoke, two other girls were walking off the ship with devious looks on their faces, "finally we've arrived," said one of them.

"Good, I was getting sick of riding on that boat, now let's go find our cousin," said the other girl.

The two of them snuck away from the dockyards without being seen by anyone, then they walked threw the streets until they came to a dark alley where they met up with their cousin, Sakura the Terror Queen.

"You two are late, you should've been here a short while ago," she said angerily.

"Sorry Cousin, but we had to wait for the right moment to sneak off of the boat, you know how it is," said one of them.

"Yes I can understand that..." then she showed a smirk on her face, "still, I'm glad both you and Asuna have arrived. I wish I could show you both the hideout of the Tokyo Terrors, but the cops have it under their control and all my terrors are in jail and that includes your dumb baka sister Rachel."

"It's funny you should mention them, cause Vypra and I have a plan of our own to help you get it all back," said Asuna.

"Get it all back?" Sakura raised an eyebrow when she heard this, "you have my full attention."

The two girls snickered to each other, then they explained their plan to Sakura.

Later that night at the big city jail, two guards were standing outside the gates of the building when they saw a lorry coming towards them, "hault!" one of them shouted. The lorry stopped right in front of the gate, then one of the guards walked up to the Driver's side of the cab, "what are you here for?"

"We're here to pick up the laundry," said the Driver, who was really Asuna in disguise, "there's a large order of it that needs to be cleaned up for tomorrow."

The guards looked at each other with suspicious looks, "the laundry people normally come during the day."

"We know that," said the second person in the cab, who was really Vypra, "we've just been busy today that's all."

"Well that's understandable, all the same, we need to check your truck over and inside to make sure you don't have anyone sneaking into the prison, will that be a problem?"

"Of course not sir, go right ahead."

And so the two guards searched the lorry over from top to bottom and even inside the lorry's trailer, but found nothing but empty boxes.

"Everything seems to be in order here, you may go in," said one of the guards.

"Yes sir," said the Driver.

The gate was opened and the lorry drove right into the complex. It then drove up to the building and parked near a loading dock, "alright we're in," said Vypra, "now let's get our cousin out of those boxes."

Sakura the Terror Queen had been hiding in a big box, hidden behind several other boxes. She was feeling very uncomfortable and was more than glad when her cousins let her out of the boxes, "now while Vypra pretends to load the laundry, we're going to get the Tokyo Terrors and Rachel out."

"That depends if you brought it with you."

"Don't worry, I brought it," snickered Asuna, "my little friend called 'Boom', now let's see if we can find them."

It didn't take them long to find Rachel and the Tokyo Terrors. They were all locked up in one area of the prison with a loan guard watching over them.

"Lights out in a few minutes Terrors, so get some shut eye!" shouted the guard, "that goes for you too Rachel and please be quiet tonight. We do not need you causing a big argument tonight."

Rachel snarled under her breath, but then she looked to the window down the hallway and a smirk came to her face.

"Did you hear me Rachel?"

"I heard you, but I won't be silent tonight, nor will I be staying here."

"And what's that suppose to mean?"

"Oh you'll find out soon enough," she giggled.

"That's enough Rachel, now be..." BOOM! The wall was blown out thanks to the help of explosives that Vypra and Asuna brought with them and now there was a large hole in the wall. The guard had been hit by several pieces of flying bricks and was knocked out cold.

"Queen Sakura," gasped one of the Terrors, "we knew you'd come for us."

"Yes my Tokyo Terrors, I have come to get you all of here."

"What about me cousin?" Rachel asked.

Sakura eyed her angerily, "your stupid plan nearly got me arrested that day you stupid baka. If we didn't need you, I would leave you behind, but we do need you, so you're coming with us."

While Sakura freed the Tokyo Terrors and Rachel, Asuna made sure that no other guards could get to them.

Once they had been freed, the Tokyo Terrors, Sakura and her three cousins got into the lorry and started driving away. Several guards tried to stop their lorry, but despite their best efforts, the lorry got away with all the Tokyo Terrors.

"See Sakura? We gave you back your Tokyo Terrors," said Vypra.

"That's just my gang, but we also had powers and a hideout," Sakura said angerily.

"That'll come in due time, especially now that we have the means to get it all back," said Asuna.

"Perhaps, but before we do anything else, I have one little task I need to take care of. Do you all remember my dumb little sister Yoshida?"

"Yeah, we remember that little pip-squeak," said Rachel, "Why did you bring that little brat into the conversation?"

"Cause I want her out of the way, we can't have her interfer with our plans. Rachel; do you remember that engine that was willing to help us out last time?"

"Yes, I remember him, why?"

"I got a little job for you tonight if you're interested..."

Later in the evening, Shamus was resting in the sheds all by himself when he heard one of the doors opening, "who is it this time?!" he shouted angerily.

"Keep your voice down stupid engine, it's just me," it was Rachel.

"You?! But how..."

"That's not important right now, I have a little job for you and it involves getting rid of that silly little girl Yoshida...unless you're going to stick with your promise."

"Forget the stupid promise, I'm interested and I'm all ears..."

_**Margaret's Wrath**_

_**Written by: D.J. Scales/Editing By: ThomasZoey3000**_

The next morning Sia was taking her cousin Maggie out on a tour of the City of Tokyo. Fortunately for them it was Saturday, which meant that they could see as much of the city as possible and hopefully some of their friends at the Little Tokyo Railway. Sia and Maggie were already walking through an intersection in the main city streets talking along the way.

"So cousin what do you think of the City of Tokyo so far?" Sia asked.

"I find Tokyo to be a lovely city," Maggie answered honestly, "I can see why you like living here. So what's been happening with you lately?"

"I managed to get my other half in control," Sia said and explained about Kikyou.

"That's rough to have to share a body with the soul of your twin sister," Maggie said to her cousin gravely, "I can't imagine if I had to lose somebody close to me."

"Speaking of somebody close to you, have you found somebody yet?" Sia asked.

"I did believe it or not and get this, he's also a Mechanic at the Crovan's Gate Steamworks," Maggie explained as she told Sia about her special somebody.

"I'm proud that you found a boyfriend and all, but I'm a little worried about the whole dating in the workplace," Sia advised, "I may not know much, but I do know that mixing business with dating never ends well."

"Relax cousin you worry too much," Margaret waved off, "I've got a lot of sense in dating and in business, so I'm not stupid to date within the workplace yet."

"On a different subject I wonder how James is doing right now," Sia asked. "Hopefully he's not in foul mood if he has to work with trucks today. But something tells me he might be in a good mood today."

Fortunately James was in a good mood today. He was to do the passenger runs today while the other engines were needed on goods trains. James' Driver and Fireman were getting him prepared for the run as Luke went to go get his coaches and bring them to the platform. Once the Turntable was set to his berth, James puffed to the main station of the Little Tokyo railway and found Luke at the station, just as he shunted the rest of his coaches into place.

"There you go James," Luke said kindly, "Your coaches are ready and the passengers are interested to see an engine like you puff along the line. Hopefully you'll do a good job."

"This is me we're talking about," James replied, "since when have I ever done anything stupid involving coaches?"

"How about the time you went too fast and made a hole in one of your coaches that needed a passenger's bootlace to fix it loser?" Shamus sneered as he rattled by with a goods train while James and Luke glared at him.

"He's lucky Maggie wasn't here, otherwise he'd be the one in the workshops," James growled as he backed onto the train.

"That'll be all James," said his Driver, "Just ignore him and enjoy your run."

Once James was coupled up to the train, he steamed away from the station and began to enjoy his run. Along the way, people came to see him and his red coat of paint and they all made numerous comments on how good he looked and how impressive he was.

"The People of Tokyo really like me," James said to himself quietly, "I'm the most splendid engine on the railway and the cleanest to boot."

Unfortunately for him, James was about to run into some trouble later.

Meanwhile at the City Park, Maggie and Sia were discussing about Sia's Fan club.

"Seriously cousin, you have a fan club?" Maggie asked stunned.

"Yep and the thing with them is that they despise Rin and anybody who's close to me," Sia sighed, "which is why Nerine and I usually have to beat some sense into them."

"That kind of sounds like what I do when somebody insults me, my family, or even James," Maggie admitted, "I'm sure you probably heard about that when my father and James' fireman mentioned some of my previous incidents."

"I was there yesterday and quite frankly at least you stuck up for your friends and family," Sia said, "Which is something I can relate to."

"Well, well, if it isn't some puny little shrimp hanging around Sia," sneered a snobby voice.

"Here we go again," Sia sighed as she and Maggie were greeted to a very unwelcome sight. Members of Sia's fan club had shown up and were getting ready to give the Maggie a piece of their minds as well.

"This is your fan club Sia?" Maggie asked seeing the group of boys. "I've seen more intimidating groups in a musical."

"How dare you mock us," one of the group members, the leader, snarled.

"I don't have to mock you," Maggie retorted, "You're doing a good job of that already based on what Sia here has already told me about you punks and I've got to say it's pathetic."

"That's it," a second member of Sia's Fan Club growled, "We're teaching you a lesson in pain you stupid baka."

"What did you call me?" Maggie growled furiously as embers appeared in her right hand.

"Oh boy," Sia groaned while shaking her head, "They went there."

"So you're deaf too you baka," A third club member said failing to notice the embers forming into a fireball.

"They shouldn't have said that," Sia added quietly and figuring out what her cousin was about to do.

"Hey I bet the little baka is so stupid she learned it from her father," The leader of the group said as Sia's fan Club all pointed and laughed at Maggie.

"I bet her and her entire family are probably a bunch of bakas," the second boy laughed while pointing at Maggie.

"Oh boy they're in for it now," Sia said to herself as Maggie's anger had reached its boiling point.

"I'll teach you never to insult me or my family!" Maggie snapped as she cracked her knuckles.

"Hey take it easy," one of the boys said, but his words fell on deaf ears as Maggie started beating up the boys and knocked them out cold while Sia watched stunned at the strength her cousin demonstrated.

Once the boys were all out cold from the beating, Maggie dusted her hands off feeling pretty proud of herself.

"Wow cousin," Sia said stunned at the sight, "I didn't know you could fight."

"Well what did you expect?" Maggie retorted, "My mother is your aunt after all."

"That's very true," Sia said, "now let's get out of here before any more members of my fan club try to ruin this day."

Maggie and Sia left the park and went to go visit the café unaware that Vypra and Asuna had been watching the whole thing with interest.

"If our sister Rachel is going to help Shamus get Yoshida out of our way, then we're going to need to actually have that stupid red engine vandalized before Shamus goes with his part of the plan," Vypra said, "and I think I know how to begin."

"Those boys you mean?" Asuna questioned, "I get that they despise anyone close to Sia and try to make life a misery for her friends, but what makes you so sure this is going to work?"

"Knowing them they're going to want revenge upon Margaret and what better way to do it than by vandalizing that red kettle," Vypra sneered, "that way if the boys do this right, Shamus can tell Princess Hot Head and the red puff ball that Yoshida is to blame."

"Now I get it," Asuna smirked, "Princess Hot Head gets angry, beats up that little pest Yoshida and if we're lucky she'll end up in the hospital for a month."

"Then let's wait for them to wake up," Vypra said as the boys started to regain consciousness.

"Ow that little pest hits hard," The leader of Sia's fan club said as he rubbed his bones.

"I'm gonna be feeling this for weeks," the second boy groaned. "That little brat's gonna get it."

"Except now we have to find her again," The third boy spoke, "she could be anywhere."

"I say we pay her out," the second boy suggested.

"But how?" The fourth boy asked.

"Funny you should ask that," said a new voice, "I've got a way you can pay out that little pest."

"Who said that?" asked one of the boys and out stepped Asuna, one of the Tokyo Terrors' four bosses, though they didn't know this yet.

"I did. I saw what that little pest did to you and I can help you get your revenge upon her," Asuna spoke calmly, then in a sly tone she added, "That is if you're interested."

Sia's fan club didn't need to be told twice, they all were interested in Asuna's plan.

Later that day, James was resting in the yards after taking the last passenger train from the transfer point to the main station of the little Tokyo Railway. His crew was on lunch break and Maggie was coming to visit him. He was already sleeping pleasantly unaware that he was in for a nasty surprise upon awaking. Sia's fan club accompanied by Asuna had snuck into the yards and was already planning their revenge upon Maggie.

"So tell us again how throwing rubbish, paint balls, and eggs at that stupid red kettle is going to help us get payback on Princess Hot Head?" The Leader of the group asked Asuna.

"I'll explain it one more time you bakas," Asuna sighed annoyed, "Princess Hot Head, A.K.A Margaret is the Daughter of that red engine's driver and Sia's cousin. Since the stupid kettle's close to Sia, I figure we could kill two birds in one stone, sort to speak. You get to teach James a lesson for being so close to Sia and you get to pay Margaret out at the same time."

"Now that's what I call a plan," the second boy said, "Let get him."

"Hold up you idiot," Asuna snapped, "we have to do this quietly. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention."

"Alright so we'll keep it quiet then," the leader of Sia's fan club said, "Let's go boys."

So the members of Sia fan club snuck up quietly next to James without waking him up. Then on the count of three they began to pelt him with paint balls, eggs and rubbish till he was completely filthy and his shiny red coat was ruined. After half an hour of doing this they snuck back towards Asuna and they walked away commenting on what happened.

"So how did we do?" one of the members of Sia's fan club asked. "Did we do a good job paying that kettle out and getting revenge on that little pest?"

"You passed with flying colors," Asuna complimented. "For once one of your plans worked out well."

"But there's still the problem of somebody finding out that it was us who did it," The second group member commented, "remember what happened to our friends in Nerine's Fan Club?"

"Funny you should mention that," Asuna responded, "I've already got a plan in motion to throw suspicion off of you guys, but for now let's get out of here."

As Asuna and the boys left, Maggie had returned to the yards alone. She wanted to have a chat with James to see how he was doing on the Little Tokyo Railway so far. Upon her arrival, she was greeted to the smell of something rotting.

"What stinks like rotten eggs, fish oil, and rubbish?" Maggie groaned as she looked for the source of the smell and found a shocking sight.

James had been vandalized from foot plate to tender with rubbish, paint balls, and Eggs. His shiny red paint was completely soiled and he was completely out like a light.

"James, wake up!" Maggie shouted and on cue James woke up.

"Maggie, I was sleeping comfortably," James groaned as he woke up annoyed, "what could be so important that you had to wake me up so soon?"

"You've been vandalized!" Maggie stated bluntly and she got out a mirror to show James what happened to his shiny red coat.

"I can't believe this!" the red engine shouted, "this is the worst possible thing that's happened to me."

"Calm down it's not that bad," Maggie said.

"You call this not that bad?!" James snapped. "look at me!"

"I am and what I mean is that it can't get any worse than this," Maggie spoke and as if on cue Shamus rolled in with a goods train. Upon seeing James covered in all sorts of rubbish he broke out into laughter.

"Did you get in a fight with some rubbish trucks and lose you idiot?" Shamus taunted as he continued laughing at James even with Maggie glaring at him.

"This isn't funny Shamus," James snapped. "I was vandalized!"

"That's what you get when you fall asleep on the job loser," Shamus sneered only for Maggie to tell him to shut up. As if on cue, the sound of a bomb going off was heard from a few miles away from that.

"What was that?" Maggie asked.

"I have no idea, but we're gonna go check it out. In the meantime, keep an eye on Shamus for us and make sure nobody steals him again." Shamus' Driver said to Maggie as he and the fireman went to go find the cause of the boom. Once they were out of sight, Maggie started grumbling about what she was going to do next.

"When I get my hands on the little vandal that did this to you James, they're in for a world of hurt," Maggie growled, which gave Shamus an idea.

"I can tell you where to find the little vandal that did this to James," Shamus spoke.

"Right and I suppose next you're going to say that pigs can fly you idiot," James snapped.

"James shut up," Maggie said, "I don't trust Shamus either, but if he says that he knows who did this to you we can at least let him talk."

"Well you heard my driver's daughter," James said to Shamus, "You know who did this, so talk."

"It was Yoshida's fault," Shamus said simply, "she's Sakura's sister."

"Sakura? As in Sakura the Terror Queen?" Maggie questioned, "as in Rachel, Vypra, and Asuna's Cousin?"

"The very same," Shamus said, "and I saw her walking this way just so she can vandalize James even further."

"Somebody needs to beat that little brat to a pulp," Maggie yelled.

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Shamus said as his crew returned.

"A car exploded just down the road," said the Driver, "luckily nobody was nearby when it went off."

"Well it's time to go," said Shamus, "remember what I just said."

"We'll remember that," James spoke as Shamus' Driver opened the regulator and took Shamus and the Goods train away.

"So where do we find that little brat?" Maggie said furiously, wanting to beat up Yoshida for vandalizing James. "She could be anywhere in this city."

"Or maybe she's walking right towards us as we speak," James said. Maggie was about to ask what James had meant, but he simply told her to look in the direction behind her. She did and saw that Yoshida was walking into the yards wanting to meet the visiting engine.

"Great so now what do we do?" Maggie said, "how do we keep her here long enough for your crew to call the police?"

"Wait behind the barrels of oil and I'll let you know," James suggested as he whispered his plan to Maggie.

Yoshida was walking over to see James. Sia had already told her about him and she was looking forward to the chance to making some new friends. Upon arriving at the yards Yoshida was nervous, but she remembered the confidence she had gained from hanging around her new friends and hoped that James would be her friend, but I'm sorry to say that he wasn't. James was glaring at her venomously as Maggie was hidden out of sight.

"What happened to you?" Yoshida asked stunned to see James vandalized.

"Well that's obvious considering this is your doing you little brat!" James snapped.

"What did I ever do to you?" Yoshida whimpered, "I didn't do this. I'm just…"

"Save it for the judge brat," James growled, interrupting her, "you're gonna need it."

"What are you talking about?" Yoshida cried, "I didn't do anything to you."

"Yeah right and I suggest you run for your life before Maggie finds you," James hissed.

"Maggie?" Yoshida asked baking away from James only to run right into Maggie.

"He means me," Maggie said cracking her knuckles and preparing to beat up Yoshida, "and quite frankly you pretty much ticked me off."

"Wait please let me explain," Yoshida pleaded not wanting to suffer a beating, "I'm just..."

"Sakura's equally bratty little sister and Rachel, Vypra and Asuna's Cousin," Maggie hissed, "pray for mercy for you won't find any from me."

"Wait can't we talk about this?" Yoshida begged backing away from Maggie as the latter prepared a fireball.

"Nope," Maggie simply said and tossed the fireball at Yoshida who on cue ran for her life.

"Get back here you little pest!" Maggie shouted as she gave chase while tossing fireballs at Yoshida.

Yoshida ran for her life dodging fireballs left and right with Maggie hot on her tail tossing fireballs at her hoping somebody would help her. Yoshida had ran around the yards and tried putting boxes in Maggie's way, hoping to slow the latter down and give her time to explain what happened and to try and prove her innocence, only for Maggie to blast each one into pieces. Maggie had chased her all over the yards and continued tossing fireballs at her the entire time, wanting to make the little vandal pay for what she accused her of doing to James.

Meanwhile James' Crew were coming back from their lunch break and were getting ready to take James out for the evening passenger runs when they saw him completely covered in paint balls, eggs, and rubbish. They were shocked at the state he was in.

"James what happened to you?" his driver asked. "and where's Maggie?"

"Uh, you might want to move to the side," James' fireman advised. James' Driver was confused as to what the fireman was talking about, but right on cue Yoshida ran past them screaming in terror and yelling for help and before James' driver could say anything else, Maggie dashed by throwing fireballs in the direction Yoshida was running in.

"Hi dad. Call the police. That little pest vandalized James," Maggie shouted just before she dashed out of sight.

"Gilbert, you better call the police and get them over here," James' driver said to the fireman, "I'd better go make sure my daughter doesn't do anything drastic."

"Good luck Monterray," Gilbert said as he watched James' driver go after Maggie and Yoshida as he called the police. "You're gonna need it."

Monterray didn't need to look far to find his daughter. All he had to do was follow the yelling. There was Maggie cornering Yoshida in an alley as the former had the latter literally shaking in her boots.

"Listen to me please," Yoshida begged, "isn't there some way we can talk this out without you trying to hurt me?"

"My cousin didn't tell you much about me did she?" Maggie sighed with a fireball in hand.

"Margaret!" Monterray shouted as he walked onto the scene, "what is the meaning of this?!"

"Dad you're just in time. This little brat over here vandalized James," Maggie snapped as she prepared to throw the fireball.

"I get that you're upset about James having been vandalized and we already called the police to handle this," Monterray said firmly, then with a sigh he added, "but did you have to chase her around the yards tossing fireballs at her?"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Maggie snapped, "let her walk the streets free as a bird?"

Before Monterray could give an answer, the police had shown up and Maggie took this as her cue.

"Officers, arrest that little brat!" Maggie yelled pointing at Yoshida.

"We'll take it from here miss," one of the officers said as they handcuffed Yoshida.

"You're under arrest for vandalism of public property and trespassing. Anything you say can and will be used in a court of law," the lead officer said reading Yoshida her Miranda rights and leading her away, leaving Monterray and his daughter in silence before returning to James.

Later on, back at the engine sheds; Shamus had returned after finishing his jobs for the day and was looking forward to some peace and quiet. He was glad the sheds were empty and was just going to sleep when one of the doors opened and in walked Rachel.

"So is that little runt Yoshida gone?" Rachel asked.

"Yep," Shamus said simply, "princess Hot Head, AKA the daughter of that Red engine's driver made sure of that. She's on her way to the country jail as we speak. You should've seen it, that little runt was chased around the yards with fireballs being tossed at her."

"Oh man that was priceless," Rachel cackled, "now I've got something to tell my sisters and my cousin. Later."

And with that, Rachel left as Shamus went to sleep muttering something about how the others were in for a rude awakening.

Unfortunately he had no idea how right he was, but that's another story.

_**Shadow of Fear**_

_**Written by: D.J. Scales/Editing by: ThomasZoey3000**_

As Shamus was telling Rachel everything he just witnessed, Sakura, her Cousins and the Tokyo Terrors had arrived outside an old warehouse in the industrial district.

"There it is cousins," Sakura said drawing her cousins' attention to an old warehouse, "the Hideout of the Tokyo Terrors."

"I bet Rachel would love to see this," Vypra commented, "somebody should go get her."

"I'll go get her your highness," one of the Tokyo Terrors spoke up and went to go find Rachel.

"That takes care of getting your sister over here," Sakura commented, "but back to business, how the heck do you plan to get our hideout back from those baka police officers?"

"Like we said earlier," Asuna said, "we've got a plan to get it back."

An hour later, two officers were standing guard in front of the warehouse when they heard something odd.

"Did you hear something?" one asked.

"I didn't hear anything," answered the other.

"I'm pretty sure I heard something."

Then the sound came again, followed by a few shady looking characters in sight and they were heading right for the hideout of the Tokyo Terrors.

"Looks like the Terror Queen's trying to get her hideout back," the first officer said. "let's capture and arrest her. Then we can get a promotion."

The second officer agreed and went to go arrest whom they thought was Sakura, but little did they know they were in for a terrible surprise.

Vypra and some of the Tokyo Terrors had caused a few small explosions via Fire crackers in hopes of luring the officers right into their trap.

"Are you sure your plan and your sister's plan will work?" One of the Tokyo Terrors that was with Vypra asked.

"One thing you need to know about my oldest sister Asuna," Vypra said, "when her plans involve explosives, never doubt her, when my plans involve vehicles or distractions, never doubt me."

"The cops are here," another of the Tokyo Terrors said as they all took their spots and prepared for the ambush.

"Sakura, you're under arrest for trespassing," the first officer said as they approached Vypra who still had the hood of her Poison green lined black Jacket up. "You're coming with us."

"There's two things wrong with that statement. One, I'm not Sakura," Vypra said as she removed her hood revealing her poison green streaked black hair, "and two, you're the ones who are now our prisoners. Get them!"

Before the officers could react, they were surrounded by a quarter of the Tokyo Terrors. They tried to draw their weapons, but two of the gang members snuck up behind them and knocked them out with frying pans.

"And that's the end of the cops guarding the place," Vypra said just as Asuna and Sakura walked up.

"Nice job cousins," Sakura praised. "You're even better at this than I expected."

"Well what can I say," Asuna replied, "my sisters and I learned from the best."

"Alright I'd like to hug everyone and all, but can we please get inside the hideout," Vypra suggested as the gang blindfolded, bound and gagged the officers and dragged them inside the warehouse.

"Home sweet home," Sakura said happily as she walked into the warehouse, "so what do you think?"

"You've really outdone yourself cousin," Asuna said, "there's even a dock for the Lorry to drive right in."

"I'm impressed cousin," Vypra spoke, "I bet Rachel would be proud to see this, considering she's managed to get a hideout for her own gang, The England Terrors."

"I heard my name," said a new voice. It was Rachel herself returning with the Tokyo Terror group member that went to get her, "you've been talking about me lately. So I take it we've got control of the hideout."

"That's right," Asuna said, "and I even have another plan for the cop car outside the place."

"But first tell us whether or not that Runt Yoshida is out of the way?" Sakura questioned.

"That's going to be quite the tale, but first you guys might want to get comfortable," Rachel said as she began to explain what Shamus told her.

As the Tokyo Terrors and their Four Bosses sat at the table, Rachel spoke with her sisters and her cousin about what Shamus told her earlier about Yoshida being thrown into the City Jail. She was also telling them how terrified Yoshida was.

"You should've seen it," Rachel bragged, "Margaret was chasing that little runt around the yards and tossing fireballs at her constantly. Then she was thrown into the squad car. She'll be stuck in the slammer for at least a month and in Solitary Confinement no less."

"I would've paid money to see that," Vypra giggled, "Princess Hot Head, the Red Kettle, and the Kettle's crew did us a favor and they don't even know it."

"See cousin," Asuna said to Sakura, "Vandalizing James and blaming it on your dumb little brat of a sister was a great idea."

"You always did come up with the best ideas when it comes to vandalizing Steam Engines Asuna, but there's still the matter of our powers." Sakura reminded, "how the heck do you plan to get those back."

"Follow us Cousin," Asuna said as she and her sisters led Sakura to the middle of the Warehouse.

"Okay so now what?" Sakura asked.

"Well remember how we said we'd give you powers," Vypra said as Sakura nodded following what her youngest cousin was saying. "We're going to do that and more."

"More?" Sakura questioned as her cousins stood in a triangle around her.

"Trust me on this cousin," Asuna said as she and her sisters all casted a spell seal around Sakura. The Tokyo Terror Queen felt a little jolt from the process, but it wore off after a few seconds.

"What the heck was that? I thought you said you were going to give me my powers?" Sakura yelled and looked ready to sock her cousin only to notice her hand was holding a glowing orb of light.

"I told you to trust me,"Asuna said simply.

"But how?" Sakura asked still stunned as to how they could get the gang their powers so soon.

"Remember when I was busy tricking Sia's Fan club into vandalizing James," Asuna said, "I had Vypra go and drain the powers of the God and Demon girls who had you arrested."

"And I made sure to drain every last drop of power from them," Vypra giggled, "think of it as poetic Justice."

"And we made sure that the powers are now bonded to you," Rachel added, "this time nobody can take them away from you. Not even the King of the realm of the Gods or the King of the realm of the Demons."

"And here's something else for you Cousin," Asuna spoke up handing Sakura a black, Green, blue and brown Iron Gauntlet, "it's a little creation Rachel, Vypra, and I put together when we drained Princess Hot Head and Princess Chill of their powers three years ago. The Iron Fist of Terror, we forged it from a special alloy garmented not to age, rust or corrode for the next 10,000 years and its indestructible. This will help you give your entire gang powers."

"So now that we've given you back your hideout, your gang and gave you your new found powers, what shall we do now?" Vypra asked, "Strike back on those who arrested you?"

"Not just yet," Sakura said, "first I need to test my new powers, and then we empower the rest of my gang. Then I'll rule Tokyo with an iron fist in every sense of the phrase."

"Good plan cousin," Rachel said, "so I'll go get some pizzas for us."

So Rachel conjured up some pizzas for the Tokyo Terrors and their Bosses for the night and they all spent the night making their plan of attack.

Next morning at the Little Tokyo Railroad engine sheds, the Man in the Suit came to see all of his engines and James as well. He had a grim look on his face that everybody noticed.

"Everyone I have some bad news," The Man in the Suit said gravely, "the Tokyo Terrors have all been broken out."

Courtney and Li both looked worried knowing how bad this was. Sakura was enough trouble and Rachel was dangerous, but now that she's got her gang with her, the Tokyo Terrors were even more dangerous. James himself was looking a little worried.

"Say that again?" Li said shocked, "how many of them escaped?"

"All the Tokyo Terrors have escaped," The Man in the Suit replied, "and Rachel as well I'm afraid."

"But how?" Courtney responded shocked, "I thought we saw the last of them when Thomas was here. How could Sakura have broken her entire gang out?"

"According to the guards, Sakura had help from two other girls and some explosives," The Man in the Suit said as he explained everything the guards told him, "for now we don't know what they're going to do next, but I suggest you all take care. Especially you James."

"Why me?" James asked.

"You're doing passenger runs today," The Man in the Suit answered, "and considering you're the only Red Engine on the railway you're easy to see, so a lot of people are going to want to see you."

"And that in turn may mean more passengers to rob for a text book train robbery," Luke continued.

"Luke's right James," Big Mac added, "of all of us who are at risk of being robbed, you're the one who has the highest risk, so all of us have to be careful."

"Now Listen, just because the Tokyo Terrors have escaped doesn't mean we should panic," The Man in the Suit advised, "so for now we all have a busy day today, so work hard and don't panic."

"Yes Sir," all the Engines said in unison.

Once the Man in the Suit gave the engines their jobs for the day, Luke went to go get James' Coaches while Laura left to go take a cut of Tankers to the Warehouse District to be loaded up and bring them back for her and Luke. James was being fired up by Monterray and Gilbert for the Passenger Runs while they were talking about what they just heard.

"Mason has done a terrible job of raising his daughters," James said to Monterray and Gilbert. "They're as bad as Sakura and don't even get me started on what happened yesterday."

"True and from what the Man in the Suit said, that could mean we have more than just the Tokyo Terrors to worry about," Gilbert added, "we know Rachel's here in Tokyo, but if what I suspect is true, than we're in for a war. What do you think Monterray?"

"I think that for the time being, Rachel's sisters are probably still on Sodor by now," Monterray said, "but still we had best be careful. There's no telling what Sakura could do now." 

Soon James was sizzling warmly and the minute the turntable was set to his birth, he left for the Main station at once to begin his morning passenger runs.

Soon James had collected his coaches and was travelling along the line quite nicely. The coaches were standard corridor coaches from the British Railway network and thought he was very kind and pleasant, even though they were used to diesel engines pulling them along the line.

"Guess you've come a long way since your first passenger run on Sodor," Monterray said to James, "or was that the second."

"Don't remind me," James grumbled, "I was new to the line then."

"And look how far you've come now," Gilbert said, "pretty soon you could be teaching another engine how to do things here on the Little Tokyo Railway."

"I'll say this," James spoke, "at least I'm not doing goods work like Shamus or Li right now."

Speaking of whom, Li was taking a train of seafood and vegetables to the market and he could smell fish from his trucks.

"I can't believe I'm stuck on fish duty. I understand taking vegetables, but fish...seriously!" Li groaned as he puffed along the line. "Why couldn't he give the fish job to Courtney, Big Mac, or James?"

"James is on passenger trains for the duration of his stay in Tokyo, Courtney's taking a goods train to the Transfer Point station," Li's Driver explained "and Big Mac is busy taking a goods train to the Docks."

"And before you ask, Laura's taking oil trucks to the district and bringing loaded trucks to the yards and Shamus is on coal train duties as usual," Li's fireman added. "the Man in the Suit doesn't trust Shamus with anything important like Fish or Vegetables."

"Shamus would be more likely to lose the fish like he does with every other train," Li sniggered, unaware that he was heading for trouble.

Meanwhile the Tokyo Terrors were waiting at a secluded part of the line waiting to ambush Li. Vypra had snuck into the yards and overheard everything the Man in the Suit said and which jobs he gave to which engines. While Asuna and Rachel took half the Tokyo Terrors to go rob James' Passengers, Sakura and Vypra went to get revenge upon Li and steal all the goods on his train.

"So let's all review the plan one more time," Sakura said making sure everyone in the group knew what to do.

"We toss flash bang grenades on the line just before that grey kettle shows up, we punch out the crew, steal all the cargo, and send the stupid grey kettle flying," Vypra reminded before being interrupted.

"And then its fish night at the hideout with an all you can eat seafood buffet compliments of us," One of the Tokyo Terrors said finishing Vypra's sentence before noticing a glare from Vypra. "Oh sorry please continue."

"Actually that last bit was a great idea," Vypra said complimenting the gang member who spoke up.

"Hurry up the kettle's coming," another Tokyo Terror said as they heard Li's whistle.

Back with Li, he was puffing to finish his fishy job when he thought he saw and heard something up ahead. His crew heard it as well and prepared to slow him down.

"Driver, did you hear something?" Li asked.

"I thought I did, but perhaps we should slow down," the Driver suggested as the fireman agreed and as if on cue more flash bang grenades began going off and the crew thought they had better go, but unfortunately for them a massive fireball struck the line in front of them and Li had no choice but to stop.

"What was that?" Li and the crew asked at the same time.

"That would be me," said a voice, and out emerged Sakura, only now she was wearing a new black brown jacket and sporting the Iron Fist of Terror.

"We brought you and the Tokyo Terrors down once Sakura," Li said firmly, "and we'll bring you down again."

"Oh how wrong you are foolish engine," Sakura said as she tossed a fireball at Li.

Both driver and fireman jumped out of the cab before their engine was hit and tipped over to the side of the line. Sakura gave the signal and the rest of her gang knocked out the driver and fireman, rendering them unconscious. Vypra then led the group to robbing Li's entire train and in a matter of minutes and with help from their new powers they stole all the fish and vegetables on the train, leaving it completely empty then they disappeared with all the stolen cargo.

"You won't get away with this Sakura!" Li growled to the Terror Queen.

"I already have. So long scrap heap!" Sakura sneered while preparing a large glowing orb of light before firing it at the American Tank Engine sending him flying and leaving a crater on the line.

An hour later back at the hideout, the Tokyo Terrors and their Four bosses were all chatting about how the robberies went.

"No way cousin," Rachel said, "you really sent that stupid grey engine flying?"

"Yep, we sent him flying about three yards and we knocked out his entire crew," Sakura bragged, "and we've even stole his entire train of goods."

"Its in the back room if you want to see it," Vypra added, "everyone's preparing for fish night tonight. So how did your robbery go?"

"Easy as pie," Asuna spoke with glee, "the Red Kettle and his crew didn't know what hit them."

"Yep, we even had a few sleepers on board the train so the robbery went off without a hitch," Rachel laughed, "you should've seen the look on the Red Kettle's face. It was priceless."

"And the best part was that we left without a trace," Asuna added. "so what shall we do next? Terrorize the City itself next?"

"Not yet," Sakura countered, "first we rest, then tonight we terrorize the city, then tomorrow we blast that Japanese tender engine and after that the stupid blue puffball is next on our hit list."

"Funny you should mention that blue puffball," Asuna spoke, "we damaged him badly before we snuck onboard the ship the red kettle was on."

"Really?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Yep. It was the day before the kettle was being loaded on the ship," Vypra explained, "and that was after we robbed all his passengers and vandalized his coaches."

"Now that's priceless," Sakura cackled. "So lets get to work."

Later that evening the Tokyo Terrors and their bosses all robbed, vandalized and completely destroyed shops and businesses to let the city know that the Tokyo Terrors were back and stronger than ever. Nothing was spared, not even the pawn shops or the slums were safe. Asuna took it one step further and even lit Molotov Cocktails in the process making sure nothing was left of the robbed areas.

Next morning James was once again on passenger train duties after the Man in the Suit had explained to him and the other engines about what had happened yesterday to Li who had been taken to the warehouse district by Nora after yesterday's run in with the Tokyo Terror Queen. He was working with a completely restored set of six Great Western Railway Coaches and was having a chat with them.

"I thought I was going to be working with Layla, Nodoka, and Ayumi today," James said to the coaches. "Considering the coaches from yesterday told me about the three of them, combined with what happened yesterday, I was expecting them to be here at the platform."

"Well we were going to back out and stay in the coach yards, but then I reminded them that we were the coaches that went through flood waters at Creech on the Great Western Railway," Agnes the lead coach said. "I also reminded them that as coaches of the Great Western Railway, we have a duty to our passengers no matter what."

"We know that Agnes," the second coach, Cora said, "Thanks for reminding us."

"But that's flood waters," the Third coach, Ami reminded, "this is a little girl with super powers. Who knows what she and her gang could do to us."

"She's only a shrimp puff," the fourth coach, Veronica snapped, not afraid to tell it like it is. "If I had it my way, I'd tell that brat off. That should pay her out."

"Or more likely get you blasted to bits," The fifth coach, Jenna countered, "we're supposed to be thinking sensibly here."

"What all of us need to do is take a deep breath and focus on the safety of our passengers," The Tail end Coach, Alyssa spoke up wisely. She was the wisest of the six.

"Sounds like a great motivational speech," James said to Agnes, "I'll have to ask Duck about that."

"Ah yes Duck," Cora said, "how is he doing? Last we heard he was sent to work on another railway."

"He's doing alright," James replied, "he's even got his own branch called the Little Western."

The coaches wanted to ask more, but the guard blew his whistle and everyone got in and James left for the other end of the line, still chatting with the coaches about what they did on the Great Western Railway.

Courtney was traveling with a load of trucks full of bread and baked goods for the market. Courtney was thinking about what happened to Li and couldn't help but worry about the damage he had endured. He had been badly damaged to the point of nearly being beyond repair and the Warehouse District had to work harder to fix him.

"Driver, after what happened to Li, I'm almost afraid that I'll be next on Sakura's hit list," The Japanese Tender Engine replied, "you heard about what happened to Li and his crew. She sent them to the hospital."

"Yes that's true, so we'll have to be extra careful and be on our guard at all times," Courtney's driver answered. "We don't need a repeat performance of what happened yesterday."

"I'm more concerned about James and his crew," Courtney's fireman spoke up, "James' passengers have already been robbed once. The Tokyo Terrors are most likely going to rob his train again."

Little did they know that they were in for problems of their own, the Tokyo Terrors were planning another ambush on the line to the warehouse district. Sakura was leading half of her gang as usual, but this time she was being joined by Asuna while Rachel was once again leading the other half of the Tokyo Terrors with Vypra helping her this time as they were preparing to rob James' Train once again.

"So you all ready to do this?" Asuna asked Sakura and her gang.

"I've been waiting to do this for weeks," Sakura said maliciously, "once we blast that Japanese engine, payback will be complete."

"And then the Tokyo Terrors will rule over all of Tokyo with an iron fist," Asuna said as the gang all laughed at the thought.

"You did remember to plant the explosives all over the line right?" Sakura questioned.

"Of course I remembered," Asuna replied as the gang took their places and waited to strike.

Courtney was traveling to the warehouse district, puffing as carefully as she could when she heard the sound of explosives going off. Her crew heard it too and began to speed Courtney up only to hear more explosives go off in front of the line. On the line there was a massive pile of rubble and Courtney and crew tried to slow down the train, barely dodging the bullet.

"I'd say the worst is over, but I don't think we're not out of the woods just yet," Courtney said.

"I'd say you're already in the frying pan as it is stupid steam kettle," Asuna's voice rang out as Sakura stepped out of her hiding spot still in her new black outfit.

"Fancy meting you here. Now I'll finish what I started," Sakura sneered as she prepped a fireball and tossed it at the other end of the train setting off the explosives on the track burying it under rubble and trapping Courtney and her train.

"You won't be finishing anything," Courtney's driver said as he and the fireman prepared to restrain Sakura.

"You're under citizen's arrest and when the police get here, its curtins for you and your gang," Courtney's fireman added as he prepared to call the police, only to be knocked out cold and beaten within an inch of his life.

"Unfortunately, its curtains for you," Asuna sneered with the hood of her British Railway Blue Streaked black jacket up so her face couldn't be seen.  
The Driver tried to restrain Asuna only for Sakura to toss a fireball at him sending him out cold like the fireman.

"Now where were we?" Sakura said mockingly as she snapped her fingers. On cue the Gang stole all the baked goods and bread from Courtney's Train as she was sitting on the line helpless to do a thing about it. Once all the supplies on Courtney's Trucks were stolen and the train was completely empty, the Tokyo Terrors disappeared completely with everything.

"And now to finish this," Sakura sneered preparing a glowing orb of light, "so long sucker."

Courtney could only brace herself as Sakura fired the orb of light at her and sent her flying more than a few feet and damaging her heavily.

Later that night back at the engine sheds of the Little Tokyo Railway; the Man in the Suit had called all the engines to the sheds to reveal some bad news.

"Everyone, due to the damage that Courtney and Li suffered today, combined with James' train being robbed again," The Man in the Suit explained gravely, "we can guarantee the safety of our passengers and engine crews as well as the safety of all of you, there will be no more passenger train services until the Tokyo Terrors are all behind bars."

And the Man in the Suit left just as Sia and Maggie arrived.

"Did I hear right?" Maggie asked stuned, "the Passenger Trains are cancelled tomorrow?"

"I'm afraid so Maggie," Big Mac said, "seems the Tokyo Terrors are more dangerous than ever."

"Considering they damaged Courtney and Li," Luke said, "and they robbed James's passengers twice."

"I've seen the damage they've done to them as well as the damage they did to the coaches," Laura groaned, "I don't feel safe on the railway anymore. And I'm a diesel engine."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they robbed the Motor Oil Traitors next," Shamus sneered.

"Shamus, Shut up!" Sia snapped preparing to throw a chair at him.

"No wait cousin, Shamus has a point," Maggie countered before Sia could throw a chair at Shamus. "The Tokyo Terrors could rob any of the engines at this point. Even Luke and Laura aren't safe."

"Finally somebody who agrees with me," Shamus said proudly, "at this rate, I think the small motor oil traitor's the next to go."

"For the time being, let's all just get some sleep," James said taking a page from Edward's book and being the peacemaker. "We're all going to have a hard day tomorrow doing Courtney and Li's work as well as our own."

Everyone, even Shamus, agreed to that idea and they all went to sleep while the cousins left for home. Unfortunately they didn't know that the Tokyo Terrors were only just beginning.

_**Thunderstruck **_

_**Written by: D.J. Scales/Edits by: ThomasZoey3000**_

It had been three weeks since the Tokyo Terrors had been broken out of prison and nearly three weeks since Yoshida had been thrown in Solitary Confinement and nearly a week after Courtney and Li had been damaged badly. During that time, the Tokyo Terrors continued robbing, vandalizing, and terrorizing the Little Tokyo Railway during the day while at night they looted and pillaged businesses, destroyed shops and even firebombed the homes of those who had gotten Sakura and the Tokyo Terrors arrested the first time. Needless to say all the engines were once again holing an indignation meeting at the Sheds that evening. This time, Big Mac, Luke and James were looking like they were in a warzone while Shamus and Laura were unscathed due to having been on Coal and Oil duty that day respectively. Maggie and Sia were also there tending to the engines while the rest of their friends were tending to the damage done to their homes.

"Three weeks of constant vandalism," James complained, "Three weeks! How much longer must we endure this? My Shiny Red Paint is ruined constantly. At this point I may be considering getting a coat of black paint."

"Will you shut up about your red paint for five seconds?" Shamus snapped, "nobody gives a care right now. In case you haven't figured it out, I had my vans robbed of engine parts two days ago."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Shamus is right," Big Mac added, "we've got bigger problems to worry about right now."

"I know that," James retorted, "but for once, I'd like to not be vandalized when taking a goods train. Is that really too much to ask for?"

"I understand how you feel James believe me," Laura spoke, "but the point is that we've got to remember what the Tokyo Terrors are trying to do."

"They're trying to spread fear and terror across the entire city you brainless gas guzzling idiotic dunce!" Shamus snapped at Laura, "what's not to get?"

"Sadly Shamus is right," Sia added, "and history's already repeating itself."

"I'm right?" Shamus said stunned before adding, "well that's a first."

"How is Shamus right Sia?" Luke asked. Neither he nor the other engines present were there when the Tokyo Terrors were around.

"The last time the Tokyo Terrors were loose, the Little Tokyo Railway and the entire city were vandalized and nearly destroyed," Sia added, "Now that they've got powers and with their four bosses leading them, it's only a matter of time before somebody else gets hurt."

"Courtney and Li are still in the workshops right now waiting for repairs while their crews are in the hospital recovering from the blasts," Maggie continued, "at this rate I may as well go face the terrors myself."

"And get yourself kidnapped in the process dimwit," Shamus sniggered before a wrench and a hammer hit him compliments of Maggie. "OW!" he cried.

"Shamus you really need to watch your mouth," James said cautiously, "Maggie really doesn't like hearing insults and she will pay you out."

"Yeah I got that message already," Shamus groaned.

"Well let's get some sleep and hope the Tokyo Terrors don't destroy anything else," Luke suggested as Sia and Maggie left for the night. Little did any of them know that things were about to take an explosive turn for the worse.

Later that evening Rachel and Sakura snuck around the yards to the Man in the Suit's office. They were going to send a deadly message in a bottle to the Little Tokyo Railway.

"So you ready to do this cousin?" Rachel spoke as she and Sakura had both taken the time to wear gloves and they each had a Molotov cocktail, a glass bottle filled with oil.

"I'm ready to do this cousin, but I need to know one thing," Sakura said, "are you sure your sister's plan will work and two, I hope your sisters are going through with their part of the plan."

"Relax cousin," Rachel spoke, "I know my last plan may have gotten us arrested, but this plan is sure to send a powerful message. Remember, if there's anything Asuna's good at, its fixing diesel engines, creating explosives, and blowing stuff up."

Sakura didn't need to hear anything else as she already knew that her cousins plans were working out well. Once the cousins arrived at the Office, they planted the black powder all over the place and covered the office floor with oil. Once they were out of range, both Rachel and Sakura tossed the bottles through the office window and set the building on fire. They then bolted far enough away to see the office go up in flames before exploding.

"Now that's a powerful message in a bottle," Sakura said to her cousin as they were walking away from the explosion. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

"Believe it or not cousin, my sisters and I learned about that from an ex-con, but somebody else in my gang, the England Terrors, taught us how to perfect that," Rachel said. "when my sisters or myself aren't around, we usually have somebody else lead the England Terrors and she's very loyal to us and the gang and she's got brilliant plans and her aunts and uncles are very nice to us. She told us that she looks up to them."

"Sounds like somebody I'd love to meet," Sakura said and before she could say anything else, the sound of another bomb going off could be heard in the city followed by another bomb going off in the Warehouse district.

"I'd say my sisters already came through with their part of the plan after all," Rachel commented as she and her cousin left for the hideout.

Back at the hideout of the Tokyo Terrors, the four bosses began to discuss the recent firebombs they placed all over the city.

"I'm telling you that was hilarious," Asuna said as they discussed about the explosion at the Warehouse district. "You should've seen the looks on those useless steam kettles."

"I'd have paid money to see that," Rachel laughed, "that was priceless."

"And now they'll know that nobody messes with the Tokyo Terrors and gets away with it," Sakura maliciously added, "so how did your part of the plan go?"

"Lets just say we left a present in front of City Hall," Vypra smirked, "and left the place looking like a warzone."

The Four bosses of the Tokyo Terrors all laughed at the chaos they caused all over the city.

Next morning at the Little Tokyo Railway sheds, the engines all woke up to a horrible sight. The yards looked like a warzone had hit and trucks had been derailed blocking the lines. Sia and Maggie came to see the enignes and needless to say they were shocked.

"Well I'm gonna say that this is much worse than the last time the Tokyo Terrors were loose," Sia said, "we've seen the destruction and vandalism on our way here."

"Somebody needs to beat the Tokyo Terrors down," Maggie stated making a fist with her right hand and punching her left hand with it.

"You're right Margaret," The Man in the Suit said as he walked up to give the engines their jobs. "However taking on the Tokyo Terrors now would be foolish."

"Are you saying I can't defeat them?" Maggie asked preparing to show what she could do.

"Sounds like it to me," Shamus commented and Maggie prepared to hit him with a fireball only for Sia to restrain her.

"As much as I'd like to let you hit Shamus with something, now is not the time to do so," Sia said, "We still need him in service."

"Sia's right. We need all the help we can get right now," The Man in the Suit said as Maggie calmed down. Then addressing the engines he added, "As you all know, the Tokyo Terrors have done a lot of damage to the Railway and to the city. They've even destroyed my office so we're all going to be doing is to help repair the damage."

"Once the damage is repaired, will I be able to take Passengers again?" James asked, he really wanted to get back to passenger duties again.

"And become a target for the Tokyo Terrors again?" Shamus said rudely, "get a clue dimwit. As long as the Tokyo Terrors are free, nobody's going to want to travel behind a puffball like you."

"As rude as Shamus' response was, the scary part is he's right," The Man in the Suit said, "the passengers won't feel safe if there's a risk of being robbed again, so I'm afraid passenger services are still cancelled till they're all behind bars."

"I understand sir," James said solemnly as the Man in the Suit gave out the jobs for the day.

James was to be taking a load of coal to the docks. At first he grumbled about how the trucks would make his trip a misery, but to his surprise, the trucks were very well behaved.

"I guess the engines weren't pulling my wheels when they said these trucks were well behaved here," James said to Monterray and Gilbert, "Usually I'd have to use Maggie as a threat."

"And that was when she dropped a piano on the lead ballast truck," Gilbert reminded, "just because they called you a kettle, right in front of Maggie."

"Fortunately she won't have to do that," Monterray spoke up, "I did warn her that she'd be spending the rest of her visit in a hotel room if she caused any trouble."

"Speaking of trouble, you think she'll run into any trouble at the warehouse district?" James asked.

"Hopefully not," Monterray replied, "but now I'm not so sure."

Monterray had every reason to be worried. Maggie had volunteered to help out at the warehouse district to try and fix Courtney and Li. At first the Manager wasn't sure about letting her help, but after hearing about her credentials and a call from the Manager at the Sodor Steamworks he agreed to have her help. That and he needed all the hands he could get. Sia was there as well lending her support and having a chat with Ken as well.

"I can't believe this is happening." Ken groaned as he was taking on water. "Sakura and her gang have caused three weeks worth of great and irreparable damage."

"Considering that she was the one who blasted me all the way to the tail end of my own trucks, I'm not surprised if she decides to damage the entire railway," Li spoke up from his siding. The men had already started repairing him as he was in really bad shape, "somebody needs to bring that brat to justice."

"You brought this on yourself loser," Shamus sneered as he steamed in with trucks for the district.

"Shamus, not now," his Driver said firmly, "we've got trucks to take back to the yards."

Shamus snorted as he bashed his trucks into a siding before shunting loaded Trucks onto another line ready for him to take. Masuko proceeded to unload the trucks while Nayuki was in another part of the shops

"Sometimes I wonder if that guy has a chip on his shoulder," Maggie said while she was already fixing Li's side rods.

"I ask myself the same question all the time," Courtney replied. "and if I didn't notice the red hair or jacket I'd think your dad was Shamus' Driver instead of James' Driver."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maggie growled getting ready to toss a fireball at her.

"She means you're beginning to act like Shamus," Sia said thoughfully, "but then again, Shamus does seem to act like a more troublesome version of you."

"I'm nothing like that little hot head," Shamus snapped as he was in hearing distance only to get a fireball thrown right at him instead.

"Shamus, if you value your life I would suggest you leave right now," Li said firmly.

"You should've followed your own advice you brainless pinhead. Perhaps then you wouldn't have ended up where you are now loser," Shamus snapped as he steamed away with his train while laughing at that comment leaving Li growling furiously.

"Great this is just what I need," The American Tank engine groaned, "Shamus making fun of me while I'm out of service for the time being."

"Look on the bright side," Courtney said, trying to cheer him up, "at least things can't get any worse than this."

As if on cue a loud explosion came from the entrance to the warehouse district covering the place in a lot of smoke.

"You just had to say it didn't you?" Ken groaned and as if on cue the place began filling with knockout gas leaving everyone out cold. Twenty minutes later the gas faded and everyone started to wake up again.

"What hit me?" Maggie asked, feeling groggy as she regained her senses. Then checking on the staff she asked, "alright who's still breathing? Sound off."

Everyone present all said they were present and accounted for, only for Ken to notice something.

"Hey where's Sia?" the Workshop Engine asked.

"I'm sure Sia's alright," Maggie began, only to notice Sia wasn't present "oh boy."

Everyone began searching for Sia at the Warehouse District, but they couldn't find a trace of her.

"This is not good," Courtney said dreadfully, "Sia's probably been kidnapped."

"And we don't need a genius to figure out who's holding her prisoner," Li spoke as Maggie called up her dad on her mobile phone.

"Dad, its me Maggie," Maggie said letting her father know what happened, "we've got a problem. Sia's been kidnapped, tell everyone to meet back at the Sheds this evening."

Maggie then hung up as she continued working on Li's repairs. Later that evening back at the sheds, the Man in the Suit, Maggie, Monterray, Gilbert, and the other Engines, save for Courtney and Li, were back at the sheds discussing Sia being kidnapped.

"Now we can add kidnapping to the list as well," James grumbled, "history has officially repeated itself again. First my Driver's daughter has been kidnapped now my Driver's niece is the hostage."

"We already know that," Shamus said furiously, "thanks for stating the brutally obvious!"

"What James means is that perhaps Maggie has already been the victim of a kidnapping before," Laura spoke seriously, "at least that's what I can think of."

"Oh great," Shamus grumbled, "I suppose they'll be asking for money next."

"How do you know that?" Luke asked.

"When you're over 100 years old like me, the Australian, and the red Sudarian steamer over here," Shamus said mentioning Big Mac, James, and himself, "you tend to know stuff like this you oily runt."

"Lets just calm down and figure out what to do," Big Mac said trying to keep the peace as Maggie's mobile-phone began to ring.

"Sia?" Maggie asked picking up her mobile phone.

"Nope, but I'm sure I need no introduction," sneered a familiar voice on the other end of phone.

"Sakura, give back my cousin or I'll torment you for the rest of your life," Maggie threatened.

"You're in no position to be giving me threats," Sakura retorted again.

"What do you want?" Maggie snapped.

"We want 100 million yen to be delivered to the Warehouse District," Sakura said, "and you and the red kettle…"

"Watch your mouth about James," Maggie interrupted.

"Don't interrupt me or your cousin and her blue haired friend pay the price," Sakura sneered, "now back to my demands, you and the red kettle are to deliver 100 million yen to the Warehouse District in three days or you'll never see your cousin or her friend ever again," and with that Sakura hung up.

"What happened?" Monterray asked his daughter. Maggie explained Sakura's demands and that Sakura was holding Sia and Nerine hostage.

"100 million yen in 3 days?" The Man in the Suit gasped, "that's impossible to gather."

"If we don't get the ransom money in time, we can kiss Sia and Nerine goodbye," Laura spoke.

"That's two less pains in the neck I have to deal with," Shamus said only for everyone to yell at him to shut up, which subsided him into silence at once.

While everyone discussed plans on what to do, Sia and Nerine were having problems of their own. The Princesses had been tied up on the support beams of the Hideout of the Tokyo Terrors as Asuna had already drained all of Nerine's powers so they couldn't escape.

"So how does it feel to be powerless little ants?" Asuna sneered as she looked at the crystals that held all of Nerine's power.

"You won't get away with this!" Sia snapped, "my father will find you and when he does, you're gonna get it."

"The only thing we'll be getting is your powers," Rachel reminded, "since we drained them from you just like we did to your cousins three years ago."

"Or we'll be getting our ransom money," Vypra added as Sakura walked over having finished her phone call to Maggie, "thanks for letting us 'borrow' your mobile phone."

"You're not welcome," Sia said crossly.

"You're going to learn sooner or later that you two are helpless," Sakura spoke up.

"As long as we have friends, we'll never be helpless," Nerine said bravely.

"Tough talk from somebody currently tied up right now," Rachel taunted, "either way, your friends will pay or you're history."

And with that the Tokyo Terrors and their four bosses began to enjoy dinner made from the stolen goods while Sia and Nerine only hoped their friends would save them in time.

_**The Light At the End of the Tunnel**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000/Special Thanks to D.J. Scales for the Ideas**_

Rex and Tex's new city line was also damaged by the Tokyo Terrors, so the following next morning, James was sent out with a works train to fix the line. He could not believe the damage the city had taken since the Tokyo Terrors had gotten out of jail, but at the moment, the damage was the least of his worries. Not even his own red coat of paint was a concern to him, he was worried for Sia and Nerine.

"I feel so powerless to help," he puffed unhappily to his crew, "if only there was a way we could help."

"There is a way James," said his Driver, "and that's hope. Hope that they are okay and hope that the Man in the Suit can get enough money to pay for their release."

James didn't want to think about what could happen if he couldn't.

He soon came to a stop and the workmen went to work. Not too far off from where they were, James spotted an old warehouse that looked like it hadn't been used for years, but there was something about it that really caught his attention.

"Excuse me," he said to one of the workmen, "but how long has that Warehouse been abandoned?"

The workman looked over to the Warehouse, "for almost ten years now," he answered, "the company went out of business in the year 1999 and the warehouse has been left there ever since. Why do you ask?"

But James didn't answer, he was looking over to the Warehouse. Although it looked abandoned, he could see some activity, "James!" Maggie shouted at him, "can you answer the workman's question?"

"Oh sorry about that," said James, "I was just looking at that Warehouse," he paused and looked around.

"Why have you taken an interest in that warehouse?" Maggie asked.

"Well think about it for a moment, the Tokyo Terrors have a huge gang right? So they would need a very big place..." he paused. Suddenly everyone there realised what James was trying to say.

"You really think that they are hiding in there?" asked his fireman.

"I can see activity going on over there, so there's a good chance that they are there along with Sia and Nerine," James answered.

That was all Maggie and her father needed to know. They got out their mobile phones and made several important phone calls, "I believe we have found where they got Nerine and Sia, come to this location..." and told off where the location was.

"We'll be there," said Eustoma over the phone, "and they will pay for their stupid stunts."

When both Eustoma and Forbesii had heard that their daughters had been kidnapped by the Tokyo Terrors, they called upon some help from their palaces. The help were their guards and finest warriors. They soon arrived on Earth and joined the police force outside of the Warehouse.

"If this is their place, we can finally put a stop to all the chaos that's been going on in this city," said the police cheif.

"And make them pay for kidnapping our daughters," said Forbesii. Although they had their faults, both Eustoma and Forbesii were caring parents and were more than determined to save their daughters.

"Alright everyone, go in and arrest anyone on sight," said the police cheif.

On that note, the guards and police charged at the Warehouse and James was indeed correct in his guess, cause it was the very warehouse where the Tokyo Terrors had been hiding. The police and guard's arrival took the Tokyo Terrors by surprise. Many of them were foolish into fighting back, but that was a big mistake as they were beaten and arrested.

Maggie walked into the building and after seeing what was going on, she walked up to one of the arrested Terrors.

"How did you find out where we were?" he asked angerily.

"We took a wild guess and it was a good one," she answered, "now where is my cousin and Nerine?"

"I'm not telling you," he smirked and spat in her face.

"Oh poor choice there," said Eustoma, shaking his head.

The Tokyo Terror soon out his words were true as Maggie proceded an orb in her left hand while she held him up with her right hand, "you can make this easy on yourself Terror," she said angerily, "you can tell me where they are, or I will go back on my word to my father and beat the answers out of you, it's your choice."

Her father stood close by and instead of telling her to stop, he allowed it to go on, "just this once," he said.

The Terror didn't believe her, but as her orb grew bigger, he soon changed his attitude, "okay I'll tell you," he said with a worried tone in his voice, "they are in the back part of the building tied up."

"Are they harmed?" Maggie asked crossly.

"No, not harmed," he answered, "but they don't have powers anymore. The machinery we used to drain them of their powers are back there along with the crystals containing their powers."

"Thank you for telling me, now you'll show us of how to use them."

"As you wish ma'am," he said nervously.

The police allowed Maggie to take the Tokyo Terror to the back area of the Warehouse. Sia and Nerine looked nervous when they saw him, but smiled when they saw Maggie.

"I knew our friends wouldn't let us down," smiled Nerine.

"You were always good at finding things and other people," Sia smiled at her cousin.

"You shouldn't thank me for this though, you should be thanking James, for it was _he_ who found the Warehouse."

"He kept a good look out," said Sia with a smile.

"That's right," Maggie nodded, then she looked over to the Tokyo Terror, "now, give them back their powers or I will teach you a lesson you won't forget that little girl that vandalised James."

"What little girl?" Nerine asked.

Maggie didn't answer just yet, she was more focused on getting their powers back. The Tokyo Terror admitted defeat and transferred Nerine's powers back to her. Since Sia didn't have powers, the machines hadn't been used on her.

"I will keep these so that those who lost their powers will get them back, same with the iron fist" Maggie said firmly, "but as for the rest of them, I will destory them!"

The police were about to stop her, but when she reminded them of how dangerous the equipment and weapons were, they agreed that those things had to be destoryed. They got everyone out of the building, then together, Nerine and Maggie set the building a blaze and destoryed all the equipment and weapons.

"And so ends the Tokyo Terrors for good," smirked Maggie.

"Not quite," said one of the officers, "we managed to capture the Tokyo Terrors themselves, but their bosses are nowhere to be seen."

They had no idea that the four bosses were watching for a distance, "oh no not again," groaned Sakura, "my once great gang is going back to jail. You bakas are so stupid!"

"Us?" explained Vypra, "we're not the stupid ones, you're the stupid one. Picking out a warehouse that's close to the railway."

"I had no idea that trains use that line."

"Relax Cousin," said Asuna, "we'll just break them out again and we'll continue where we left off."

"Not quite Asuna," said Rachel with dispair in her voice, "they destoryed everything we worked on and from here, I can hear them say that they will transfer most of the Tokyo Terrors to other prisons far off from the city."

"Did you have a back-up plan for something like this?" Sakura asked her cousins angerily.

"Uh..." they didn't answer the question, they didn't have a back-up plan.

"Bakas," snapped Sakura, "I'm out of here."

"Hold up, we're coming with you," said Vypra.

Sakura spun round angerily, "no you will not," she said firmly, "You will only get me caught. I'm going back to hiding and I do not want you bakas to follow me. Do so and I will hurt you."

"How? You don't have your powers anymore considering the equipment is gone," smirked Rachel.

"Have you forgotten your spell earlier? I still have some powers," and she used some of them on her cousins, "there's more to come should you follow me. Goodbye losers," and on that note, Sakura walked away, leaving her cousins out cold.

Meanwhile, word had spread around Tokyo that the Tokyo Terrors were finally captured. People cheered for joy and so did the Little Tokyo Engines, "it was a rough few weeks," sighed the Man in the Suit, "but finally the peace has returned to the city."

Word also spread from Sodor that the England Terror too had been stopped and repairs were being made to the damage they had caused, including to Thomas and his faithful coaches.

"Well it's like the old saying goes, all's well that ends well," smiled Maggie at the sheds that night.

"Good thing too," sighed James, "I was worried for everyone's safety, including Sia and Nerine's."

"Well don't worry yourself anymore James," Sia said with a smile, "we're okay now and soon the city will be too after all the repairs are done."

"And there's more good news," added the Man in the Suit as he walked up, "the people that had been injuried in the many acts of vandalism are recovering nicely and will soon be released from the hospital."

"Good timing too," smiled Maggie, "Cause Courtney and Li's repairs are almost done thanks to the magicians doing their part."

Nerine then piped up, "back at the Warehouse, you said you were going to teach that Terror a lesson like you did with that young girl. Who were you talking about?"

"The one you all call Yoshida," James answered crossly, "she was the first to vandalise me."

"I gave her a good lesson though on what happens when you mess with one of my favourite engines," Maggie said firmly and punched her left hand with her right fist.

Sia, Nerine and the Man in the Suit all looked at each other with confused looks, "Yoshida wouldn't vandalise James," said Sia, "she's just a shy little girl who couldn't hurt a fly."

"Well she vandalised me," James grumbled.

"We know who Yoshida is, James and we can tell you that although is Sakura the Terror Queen's sister, she's nothing like her at all."

"Didn't Toby tell you anything about Yoshida when he came back to Sodor?" Nerine asked.

"No, I never saw Toby before I came," James answered.

"In that case, we better tell you," sighed Sia and told them everything. Maggie didn't seem to believe her cousin and just walked away muttering, 'she's gotten you under her spell', but when James and his crew heard the whole story, they suddenly felt guilty.

"So, all that time, she was just trying to be my friend?" James asked.

"That's right," Nerine and Sia nodded in unison.

Upon hearing that, James shouted loudly, "Shamus you dumb stupid idiot!" he glared angerily at Shamus, "you haven't changed a bit since you were on Sodor! You were stupid then and you're stupid now!"

"It was the Tokyo Terrors plan to have her taken away to jail," Shamus said in protest, "but I tell you, it was fun seeing all that. That's one less annoyance to deal with."

Sia looked angerily at Shamus, then she turned to the Man in the Suit, "can I teach him a lesson myself?"

"By all means," the Man in the Suit nodded, he was also cross with Shamus.

Sia picked up several bricks and threw them right at Shamus, "ow!" he cried.

Sia stopped and then the Man in the Suit walked up to him, "so you went back on your word huh Shamus? I am disappointed in you, sending an innocent girl to jail - again!" Shamus didn't look ashamed at all, "for your part in the Tokyo Terror's game, you will be doing seventeen hours of work a day. I will have another crew work with you late at night!"

"Whatever," Shamus sniffed.

The Man in the Suit just shook his head and then walked away, "I have something I have to do," he said before leaving.

The magicians at the Warehouse District soon had Courtney and Li fully repaired by the late evening and the two engines were brought back to the sheds by their temporary crews.

"It's only until your crews can come back to work," said Courtney's temporary Driver.

"Well I'm glad they're not rushing," said Courtney, "I don't want to see them get hurt even more."

The other engines and their friends, which included Asa, Kaede, Rin, Primula and Drew, who arrived sometime ago, told them all about what Shamus had done for a second time. Like their friends before them, the two engines scolded Shamus, "you're lucky that my temporary crew is putting my fire out right now, otherwise I'd come over there and push you right threw the wall!" snapped Li.

"You're dispicable Shamus," added Courtney angerily, "I hope one day you get what's coming to you."

"Yeah right," Shamus sniffed again.

Courtney and Li were about to shout at him again, but that didn't happen as they noticed the Man in the Suit coming up to the sheds with Yoshida behind him. He had once again payed for her bail and brought her back to the yards. When she saw James though, she shivered in fear and stayed behind the Man in the Suit.

"Now tell me James, is that the face of a vandal?" Sia asked, "cause it sure doesn't look like one to me."

James looked very shamefaced, he now knew that he had made a mistake. Very softly, he spoke to Yoshida, "uh hello Yoshida, can we talk for a bit? I want to say I'm sorry for not hearing you out and yelling at you. You see, my friend Margaret and I believed a lie about you and so we believed that you had vandalised me when in fact you weren't the one that did it."

Yoshida didn't move an inch, she was still too scared.

"You're doing good James," Big Mac whispered to him, "keep talking."

"I've heard alot about you from the others and I would like to be your friend if you'll let me. I'm truely sorry for what I did, will you forgive me?"

There was a moment of silence in the yards, then Yoshida walked slowly away from the Man in the Suit and up to where James was. She walked slowly and cautiously. Everyone stayed perfectly silent, even Shamus, mostly because Sia was staring angerily at him. Finally she reached James and rubbed the top part of his right hand buffer.

Silence filled the yard, Yoshida looked up to James, "You're all messy," she said quietly, then she spoke to the crew, "can you give me a rag?"

"What do you want a rag for?" James' Driver asked.

"I want to give James a good washdown," she answered.

"Does this mean you forgive me?" James asked.

"I'm still a little scared of you, but...yeah, I do forgive you, as long as you don't scare me like that again."

"You have my word, I won't scare you again."

"You!" snapped a voice. Everyone looked and there, standing in the doorway was Maggie. She stared at Yoshida angerily and produced a fire ball, "you should've stayed in jail where you belong. Now you'll pay big time!"

"No she won't," snapped another voice.

Much to Yoshida's surprise, the person that said that was none other than Maggie's own cousin Sia. She stood in between the two girls, protecting Yoshida from Maggie.

"Get out of the way Sia, she's the sister of Sakrua the Terror Queen and I have to teach her a lesson."

"You'll have to teach me that lesson yourself Maggie, cause I'm not moving," Sia said firmly.

"I can't believe you're so stupid into thinking that she's an innocent girl. Do you not even know who that is? She's not only the sister of the Terror Queen herself, but she's also a cousin of Vypra, Asuna and Rachel, the three stupid idiots that started this whole thing. She's going to try and hurt us all, just like they did, unless we do something about it."

"Maggie, you're the stupid one," Sia said firmly. Maggie gasped, she never thought she would hear those words coming out of her own cousin's mouth. Normally it's what Kikyou, Sia's twin sister, would say, but this time it was Sia herself who said it. "You're so blind to the truth that you don't even see an innocent person standing right in front of you. You're letting your own anger get the better of you."

"I am not," Maggie snapped and stepped forward. She stopped though when she saw all of Sia and Yoshida's friends stepping forward and this included Sakura Yae, who had just arrived. The engines, apart from Shamus, all stared down at Maggie firmly.

"Leave Yoshida alone," James said firmly.

"If you harm that little girl, then you'll be going home without us," her father added firmly.

Maggie had no choice, she had to admit defeat this time. She turned and was about to walk away, but before she did, she spoke to Yoshida, "consider yourself lucky tonight Yoshida," she said, "but just know, should you ever threaten or harm my friends, you will be sorry and trust me, you'll be getting a worse punishment than what your sister and cousins will get when I catch up to them," and with that, she walked away.

"You all stood up for me," Yoshida said after a moment.

"Of course we did," said Sia, "We're your friends and friends always stick up for each other."

"Even those who admit that they made a mistake at first," added James.

Yoshida turned back to James and for the first time in a few weeks, Yoshida was smiling. "Thank you, all of you," she said happily, "now let's get you cleaned up James."

"What about me?" Shamus snapped, "I need a rubdown too."

"Actually Shamus, you should keep the look, it suits you," smirked Li and the others laughed. Shamus snarled crossly while Yoshida smiled as she cleaned James up. Despite what happened before, she had finally gotten a new friend and she was back with the people who care about her.

As for the Tokyo Terrors themselves, several judges declared them all guilty and instead of being sent to the one jail, they were sent to different prisons around Japan with no bail. The bosses are still on the loose, but people are keeping an eye out for them and they will soon get caught. But the best news of all is that the City of Tokyo is once again safe and people can now go anywhere they want with eased nerves knowing the chaos was finally over.

_**The End!**_


	33. Nina the Helpful Engine

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 33**_

_**Nina the Helpful Engine**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_I'm happy to say that the City of Tokyo is making great progress into fixing all the damage that was caused during the Tokyo Terror's Rein of Terror. Courtney's crew and Li's crew have also recovered and are now back at work. Speaking of which, the Little Tokyo Railroad has got a new engine in their line-up. She is a former British Railways 2-6-4 Tank engine painted in Black. She originally was suppose to be the seventh engine of the railway, but following an accident of just one of those engines, she became the sixth engine. Who was involved in that accident, well you'll read the book to find out._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-The Last Straw

-Nina Takes the Bus

-Risky Rescue

-Nina the Helpful Engine

_**The Last Straw**_

The Tokyo Terror's rein of Terror had done some serious damage on the City of Tokyo, but since they had been arrested and their warehouse was destoryed, the city was in the process of fixing everything up. The Little Tokyo Railroad was doing it's part in helping the city too and in the process, business was booming once more with goods and passengers. Everything was going smoothly - except for one constant problem.

One night, the Man in the Suit was pacing on the platform of the station. He was waiting for someone to come in, "late again," he remakred.

Finally, James arrived with Cedric behind him and with Shamus in tow and with his front end covered in snow, "thank you for your help James, you can take Cedric back to the yards, then you can go back to the sheds."

"Yes sir," said James and puffed away.

"Sir, we would like to point out that we tried to stop him," called Shamus' Driver.

"Yes I'm aware of that and I appearcite your efforts, I don't blame you - it's your engine I blame," he then turned angerily towards Shamus, "the Tokyo Terrors are back in jail and the line has been repaired really well, so there shouldn't be a reason for you to keep coming off the line."

"It's your stupid trucks," Shamus retorted, "they pushed me again."

"We did no such thing!" called the trucks, a few of them with a whimper.

"No lies Shamus, it was your fault and you know it!" snapped the Man in the Suit crossly, "now I'll have Luke take your trucks to the yards, then I want you to go back to the sheds."

"I can shunt my own trucks thank you very much," Shamus snapped back, "there's no need to make a stupid decision like that."

The crew and the trucks gasped in shock, Shamus had just said the worst thing you could ever say to a Controller. The Man in the Suit took in deep breaths to calm himself down, then he spoke again, "just go back to the sheds Shamus, I will talk with you tomorrow morning."

"Fine," Shamus sniffed and once his fire had been lit again, he set off to the sheds.

"I'm really regretting my choice of ever buying him," the Man in the Suit thought to himself, "I should've bought his brother instead."

Shamus puffed into the sheds where all the other engines were waiting for him. Once again, he didn't look ashamed at all, "the Man in the Suit doesn't know what he's talking about, he tells me to leave the trucks for the motor oil traitor to shunt away when I can easily do the job."

"The Man in the Suit knows better than you ever will," said Courtney firmly.

"Besides, he probably wants the job done by someone who won't derail the train at the end of the siding," added Li.

"Pah!" sniffed Shamus, "I know how to do the work - I just can't believe him into thinking I was lying. It was his stupid trucks and the stupid line that got me derailed, it's not fit for an engine to run on."

"We run over that line just fine and we don't come off the rails," said Big Mac.

"That's because you follow his stupid rules and stupid limits."

"You should learn to listen to the Man in the Suit's rules Shamus," said James, "otherwise you could end up like the Mid Sodor's original No 2."

"Who?" Li, Courtney and Laura asked in unison.

"Oh no, not another story," groaned Shamus.

"Pay attention to it this time Shamus!" James snapped and then told the story, "No 2, Stanley as they knew him, was an American Wartime engine, built on the cheap side to help with the war efforts during the first World War. He was a great help then, but after the war, he became very cocky and by the time he arrived on the Mid Sodor, he believed he was better than everyone else."

"Sounds awfully familar," smirked Li.

Shamus was about to snap, but James silenced him at once and continued, "he often rode roughly and came off the tracks. He was warned to be careful, but he wouldn't listen and that resulted in his downfall. One day, he was going too fast for his own good and came off the tracks once more, but this time he smashed himself nearly to pieces. When he was taken back to the yards, the Mid Sodor manager said he was going to make him useful at last. Stanley stopped smiling then."

"He wasn't scrapped was he?" asked Courtney.

"Nope, not yet anyways," James answered, "from what I heard, he was put in the back of the shed and used a pumping engine where he probably still remains to this very day."

Shamus pretended like he wasn't listening, "one of these days, that could very well be your final punishment." Shamus didn't believe that and went angerily to sleep.

The next morning, after the other engines had been given their jobs and went off to work, the Man in the Suit spoke sternly to Shamus, "you have been causing us enough trouble ever since you first came. You derail, you lie and you fight with everyone here," he was saying, "I am giving you one _last_ chance Shamus, so don't blow it."

He gave Shamus his jobs for the day, then he walked away to help with the building of his new office.

"I hope you were listening this time Shamus," said his Driver, "cause if you blow it, not only will you be dealt with, but so will we."

"We'll both be out of jobs if you are dealt with by the Man in the Suit," added the fireman.

But like always, Shamus took no notice, "he can't do anything to me, I haven't done anything bad," he boasted, "plus he would never scrap a steam engine, especially one of my age."

"It won't matter how old you are," said the Driver firmly, "if he's mad enough, then he will take action aganist you."

"No he won't," sniffed Shamus.

The Driver and the fireman gave up, Shamus was not one to listen to them and so agreed that they were going to try harder to keep Shamus under control, which wasn't going to be easy for them. Shamus had a mind of his own and he was firm with his believes.

When it came time to do the shunting, they tired hard to stop Shamus from bumping the trucks, but he would go aganist them and bump the trucks hard.

"Stop bumping those trucks!" shouted a yard foreman, "we enough stuff that was damaged by the Terrors, we don't need you doing it."

"Ahh shut up!" Shamus snapped.

He continued with his attitude all day and continued to be reckless, much to the dismay of his crew, "he really doesn't care if he's taken out of service and we lose our jobs," said the Driver to the fireman.

"Nope, Shamus will always be Shamus and I don't think anything will stop him," sighed the fireman.

"That's right and don't you ever forget it!" shouted Shamus.

Something however was going to stop Shamus as he found out that night. The sun had gone down for another day, Shamus had been lucky to have stayed on the tracks, but he was still being reckless and rushing to get to the District.

"Slow down Shamus, slow down!" cried his Driver, "You don't know what could be around the next bend!"

"I know this line like the back of my buffers, so stop shouting at me and just do your own stupid job."

The Driver sighed and said no more, but he was still worried. He had every right to be worried.

Up ahead, some workmen were working on a set of points leading to the new city line that Rex and Tex were to be using. They weren't working properly, so the men had to repair them, "should we be worried?" one of them asked, "after all, this is a very busy line."

"You can relax kid, the next train isn't due for another fifteen minutes, so we should be okay to work."

The young worker sighed in relief and went back to work. But just as they were going to get started, they heard the sounds of a steam engine in the distance. The lead foreman checked his watch, "this doesn't make any sense, it's not due to pass for another fourteen minutes."

"It's Shamus, he's on the front of the train, get out of here!" shouted one of the other workmen.

They ran as fast as they could to get out of the way, they had no time to get their tools or change the points to the proper line. They waved to warn Shamus and his crew of the danger ahead, but by the time they saw them, it was much too late. Shamus' Driver applied the brakes, then he and the fireman jumped out.

"What are you..." Shamus began. At that moment, he ran over the points and instead of going on either line, he skidded along on the road. He crunched the tarmac with loud crunching sounds and ran over the tools on the ground, then Shamus saw a building coming up, "Stop! Stop!" he cried, but no one could stop him now.

Shamus rolled straight into the building with a BANG! His tender and several of the trucks followed, they smashed into Shamus and the building with a loud CRASH! The noise was deafening, everyone was close by came out to see what the noise was. They were surprised to see Shamus smashed into the building and with half of his train all over him.

"Our jobs are gone," groaned the Driver to the fireman, "Get out your mobile phone and get help, we're going to need it."

The fireman sighed unhappily and quickly phoned for help.

Less than an hour later, the Man in the Suit was waiting at the platform one more time. He was pacing back and forth with a very angry look upon his face. Finally, Nora and Big Mac arrived with the damaged trucks and Shamus on a flatbed. He was a terrible mess, his funnel had been dented badly, his cab had been destoryed, his wheels were cracked and his front bufferbeam sat on the flatbed in front of him.

"Uh...whoops," he said meekily and with a stupid smile on his face.

The Man in the Suit shook his head, then he spoke to Nora and Mac, "I would like you two to take the tender and the trucks back to the yards, I need to have a word with Shamus," he said.

"Yes sir," they said and puffed away.

"It was a minor accident, you can blame your workmen for not finishing their work on time," said Shamus. He was once again trying to shift the blame to someone else, even though he knew it was his fault this time.

"I warned you Shamus," the Man in the Suit said while shaking his head, "anymore accidents and you would be punished and now you're going to be punished."

"Sir, we tried hard to stop him, but..."

"It's alright you two," he said to the crew, "I don't blame you, but I would like you to wait inside the station for a bit. I'll be in there to speak with you in a bit."

"Yes sir," they said and walked away.

The Man in the Suit then turned back to Shamus, "you really damaged yourself badly this time, I don't know if we can even repair you."

"Of course you can, just send me to the District and they'll have me running as good as new in no time."

"Sorry Shamus, but I won't be doing that this time," he said firmly, "I asked you not to blow it and you did, in more ways than one, so I have no choice but to give you your final lesson."

"Well...what are you going to do?" Shamus asked, sounding a little nervous this time.

"I'm taking a page out of the Mid Sodor history book by turning you into a pumping engine," he answered, "maybe some time out of action will finally teach you a lesson."

"No sir, please don't," pleaded Shamus, but his pleades were not going to do any good.

Workmen came and removed his wheels and cab, then Nora took him to the back of the sheds over new tracks that had been placed there that morning, "I had a feeling we would need it," the Man in the Suit said to Shamus, "and we are going to be using it for the first and last time."

Using Nora, they lifted the once proud Shamus off the flatbed and placed into a small building behind the shed, then they sealed it up.

"At least now we'll have better ventilation for the sheds and we won't have complaints aganist your reckless and attitude. Good bye Shamus," and on that note, everyone left the site. Shamus screamed loud and long, but as the night wore on, the volume of his voice went down until he had lost it completely.

It started to dawn on Shamus that he had recieved his final punishment and it was going to be a permanent punishment. I think he deserves it, don't you think so?

_**Nina Takes the Bus**_

Shamus' Driver and fireman were waiting anxiously inside the waiting room of the station. They were worried that when the Man in the Suit came in, they would be fired from the railway, "we really did try hard to stop him from causing anymore damage," sighed the fireman, "but Shamus wouldn't listen."

"Well we did best, that's all anyone could ever ask," the Driver said in agreement. He groaned and shook his head unhappily, "I guess I'll have to tell my family that I'm out of a job. My wife doesn't work and my kids aren't old enough to work."

"It will be terrible to tell our families that we were fired."

They waited and waited for what seemed to be an eternity, then finally the Man in the Suit walked into the main station's waiting room, "sorry to keep you two waiting, I was just talking with Shamus about his new role on the railway."

Both men looked at each other with worried looks, "sir, does this mean that we're going to be fired now?" the fireman asked nervously.

"Not at all," said the Man in the Suit. Both men looked confused, "it's not your fault those accidents kept happening, it was your engine that caused it all. You two are far too reliable and useful to be fired."

"But if Shamus is taken out of service, what kind of jobs will we be doing sir?" asked the Driver.

The Man in the Suit was going to answer that question, that was until another worker came into the waiting room, "oh here you are sir, that important delivery has just arrived at the docks."

"Most excellent, thank you for informing me," he said to the worker, then he turned back to face Shamus' former Driver and fireman, "I would like you two to follow me. You'll find your future jobs waiting there."

The men were confused, but still they followed the Man in the Suit towards the dockyards.

When they arrived, they got quite a surprise. For there, sitting on the track next to Rick the Big Crane, was a very big tank engine. It was painted in black with two front wheels, six driving wheels and four big wheels underneath the cab. It also had a very big dome, the numbers '80152' and the British Railway's logo on both sides of the water tanks.

"Gentlemen, I like you to meet our latest engine for the railway and also, your own engine to work with."

"That's our engine?" both men asked in unison.

"That's right," the Man in the Suit nodded, "this engine needs a crew and considering how useful and reliable you two are, you are perfect for the job."

Both men sighed in relief and thanked the Man in the Suit for the new jobs, "at least now we won't have to deliver bad news to our families," sighed the Driver.

"And you'll never have to," smiled the Man in the Suit, then he turned to the new engine, "it's good to see you again, how do you feel?"

"Well sir, I feel great and I'm looking forward to getting to work," she said proudly.

"While I appearcite your enthusiasm, we don't have any jobs for you tonight, you'll have to wait till tomorrow," he said kindly, "in the meantime, these two men who will be your crew, will take you back to the sheds for a rest."

The two men walked up to their new engine with kind looks on their faces, then they introduced themselves to her, "what's your name?" the fireman asked.

"Uh, I don't have a name," she answered, "I only ever had a number, 80152."

The Man in the Suit heard this and looked away in a thoughtful manner. After less than a minute, he spoke up, "well then we'll just give you a name," he said, "how would you like the name; Nina?"

The engine looked thoughtful, then she answered his question, "I would love the name sir," she said.

"Excellent, Nina it is then," smiled the Man in the Suit. He then turned to the two men, "now you two, I would like you to take Nina to the sheds so she can have a rest."

"Yes sir," they said. They climbed up the stairwell into the cab, then once the fire had been lit, they took her off to the shed.

When they arrived, they found the other engines fast asleep. The crew quietly parked Nina into Shamus' former spot of the shed, then they dropped the fire and headed off for home.

"Good night," Nina called quietly to them, "I'll see you in the morning."

"See you in the morning Nina," they called to her and left. Shortly after they left, Nina closed her eyes and went off to sleep.

The next morning, Sia and Yoshida arrived at the sheds to see the engines before going off to school. The engines were just waking up when suddenly James asked, "where did you come from?"

At first, the engines thought James was talking about their friends, "they came in threw the doorway James," yawned Li.

"I know that," he said, "I was talking about the engine in Shamus' spot."

Everyone in the sheds looked and, sure enough, they saw another engine sitting in between Big Mac and James, "I've seen her class of engine before," said Yoshida, "they are known as Mainline tank engines which used to take either goods or passengers."

"Yes I used to do work like that," smiled Nina, "but that was a long time ago, I'm now an engine of the Little Tokyo. My name's Nina by the way."

"Well Nina, it's an honor to meet you," said Courtney, "I'm Courtney, the railway's only Standard Gauge Japanese Engine."

Then one by one, the others all introduced themselves to Nina, even Yoshida was quick to introduce herself.

Just then, the Man in the Suit came into the sheds with Nina's crew, "ahh, I see you have all met Nina, our newest engine," he smiled.

"Yes we have," said Li, "but why didn't you tell us that you were getting another engine?"

"Well Li, I was going to tell you several weeks ago, but with the Tokyo Terror's Rein of Terror causing chaos all over the city and with you and Courtney in the shops for repairs, that time wasn't the best time," he said.

"Who are the Tokyo Terrors?" Nina asked curiously.

"Don't ask Nina," groaned James as he rolled his eyes, "it's better if you don't know."

"Anyways, Nina is our latest engine and is going to be Shamus' replacement," continued the Man in the Suit.

"Shamus' replacement?" Nina asked again with a raised eyebrow.

"We'll tell you later on," said the fireman as he and the Driver came in, "in the meantime, we need to get over to the yards to do some shunting before we take a goods train over to the Warehouse District."

The fireman climbed up to the cab to light the fire while the Driver went over to the doors to open them. Soon Nina's fire had been lit and burning nicely, the Driver opened the regulator and Nina puffed cheerfully out of the sheds.

"One of these days, you've got to tell us how you manage to find these engines," Sia said to the Man in the Suit

"We'll see Sia," he said with a smirk on his face, then he went to speak with the other engines.

In the yards, the trucks had already learned that there was a new engine in the yards and that it was the replacement of Shamus, "I hope this engine is better than Shamus was," said one of the trucks, "my buffers are still sore from the last time Shamus shunted us."

"So do mine," groaned another.

"Well we'll soon find out, cause here comes the new engine," said a third truck.

To their relief though, when Nina started shunting them, she was very careful with them and didn't bump their buffers too hard. She also spoke kindly to them, "beautiful day today don't you think?"

"Uh yeah, it is," the trucks answered.

"Although it'd be better if it was spring or summer."

"Yeah that's true," the trucks said in agreement. They were soon in deep conversation with Nina and before long, her next train was ready to go to the Warehouse District.

"Well that was quick," said the fireman, "guess it just goes to show that time flies when you're having a good time."

Nina and the trucks happily agreed and departed as soon as the guard was ready, "here we go, here we go," said Nina cheerfully.

"We're right behind you, we're right behind you," said the trucks as they followed her out of the yards.

Nina soon passed the sheds and noticed the small building where Shamus was housed, she could see a sad face looking threw the window, "is that Shamus in there?" she asked.

"It is," said the Driver, "an engine with a bad attitude," then he and the fireman began to tell Nina all about Shamus.

In another part of the city, a bus was rolling along on the road on it's way back to the garage after completing it's final run of the morning. The engine was sputtering loudly, which worried the Driver.

"Hmm, the engine isn't suppose to be making that sound," he thought to himself, "I think I better take a look at it when we get back to the garage," but he never got the chance.

As the bus rolled up to the last level crossing before the main city line, the engine made one more spluttering sound and then it gave out all together and the bus stopped right on the railway line. The Driver turned the key several times, but the bus would not start. He soon admitted defeat and called for help to get the bus off the line, but there was one thing he forgot to do and soon found out what it was.

Nina was puffing along smoothly down the line with her trucks, unaware of the danger ahead.

Soon though, she saw the bus stuck on the main line, "Stop! Stop!" she cried. Her Driver and fireman looked out her cab windows and saw the bus on the line.

"Good glory," cried the Driver and went for the brake handle. He opened it up hard, but with the weight of the trucks, Nina couldn't stop it time. She skidded along the rails and into the side of the bus with a loud CRASH!

"Oh no," groaned the bus Driver as he watched Nina take his bus away. He slapped his forehead, "now I remember what I was suppose to do."

Nina and the bus continued on down the line for a short distance before finally coming to a complete stop.

"Oh dear," groaned Nina, "I hope nobody's been hurt."

Her Driver and fireman climbed down from the cab and walked up to the damaged bus. They checked inside and sighed with relief, "you can relax girl," said her Driver, "nobody was in the bus when you hit it."

Nina sighed with relief, "thank goodness."

Just then, the Bus Driver ran up, "I'm sorry about that," he said to them, "my engine gave out and stopped on the crossing. It's my fault for not informing your controller and letting you that I was blocking your line."

"That's alright," said the fireman, "just be thankful nobody was on board, otherwise this situation could've been worse than it actually is."

"Yeah that's true," sighed the Bus Driver.

The bus wasn't too far from the crossing, so it was easy for the breakdown lorry to get a hold of it and take it back to the roads. Before he left, he apologized to Nina and her crew and watched them continue on their way towards the district.

**Author's Note:**

This story is based on the incident in Rockville, Md. in 1959 when the 'Metropolition' passenger train went crashing into an empty schoolbus which stalled on the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. Thankfully no one was in the bus when the train, which was travelling at 70 mph, smashed into it.

_**Risky Rescue**_

_**Special Thanks to 'Anime Boy' for Use of the Japanese High Speed Diesel Twins**_

Nina continued to work hard over the next few days following the bus accident and during that time, she showed everyone just how reliable and useful she was. All of her goods trains ran to perfect time everytime, there were no damaged goods in the trucks and she was friendly to everyone who met her.

The Man in the Suit was quite impressed with Nina and one evening, he arrived at the sheds to speak with Nina, "I'm quite impressed with you Nina," he said, "I was expecting good results from you and yet, you seem to go beyond my expections."

"And beyond anything Shamus could do," muttered Li cheekily, but was quickly hushed by the engines and Nerine, who was visiting that night.

"You're doing so well that I think it's time to test you out on passenger duties," continued the Man in the Suit.

Nina gasped, but then smiled, "oh sir that would be lovely." Nina loved pulling passenger trains, which was obvious to see with the expression on her face.

"So tomorrow, you will work with James on the passenger runs to the Transfer point station," added the Man in the Suit, "if you need any advice or need any help, just ask James and his crew, I'm sure they'll be more than glad to help you out."

"Yes sir," Nina said happily.

The following next morning, Luke brought in two seperate trains for both James and Nina. James was to get the Great Western coaches, who had been fixed following the robbery they were involved in while Nina was to get Ayumi, Nadoka and Layla the old coaches.

"Who's taking us out today?" Ayumi asked Luke.

"It's our new engine Nina," he answered, "this will be her first passenger run on the Little Tokyo Railroad."

"Nina...isn't she the engine that replaced Shamus?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Luke answered by saying that she was the engine that replaced Shamus, "well she better not try any of her silly tricks, or I will give that silly engine a piece of my mind."

"Yeah and what if she's a sweet kind engine who might make an honest mistake?" Nadoka asked, "will you pay her out then?"

"We've told you before Ayumi that bumping others just to spite them out will only land you in trouble," said Layla firmly, "remember that's what happened to Shamus and look where he is now."

Ayumi gulped, she already knew about Shamus' final punishment and certainly did not want the same fate, so she decided not to do anything.

Very soon, Nina and James came puffing into the station ready to collect their passengers. Both engines buffered up to their trains smoothly and were coupled up to the coaches.

"Not bad Nina, I'm impressed," said James, "I'd say you could give Thomas and Gordon a run for their money."

"I don't know about that James, they are used to pulling passenger trains all the time while I am not," she said, "this is my first official passenger run I've had since my retirement."

"Oh I'm sure you'll do fine, just remember not to bump the coaches, they don't like that."

"You can say that again," said Veronica the coach, but was hushed by the other Great Western coaches.

"One of these days we'll need to teach both Veronica and Ayumi to be better coaches," sighed Jenna the Great Western coach. Both coaches snapped angerily at her, but Jenna and the other coaches all ignored them as passengers began to board their trains.

When they were on board, James set off with his train first, "look at me go! Look at me go!" he boasted proudly.

Nina followed shortly afterwords, "puff smoothly and carefully. Puff smoothly and carefully," she kept on saying to herself.

She did just that and gave the passengers a wonderful ride, they were having a wonderful time and so were the crew, "if this had been Shamus, we'd probably be off the rails by now," said the Driver, "plus those passengers would be complaining about being bumped."

"Yep there's no doubt about it, Nina is a much better engine than Shamus was," said the fireman, "a pity though, he is an historical engine."

"True, but just remember, Shamus brought this upon himself and now he's paying for his own mistakes."

"Yes, that's very true," nodded the fireman as he went back to work.

During the run to the Transfer point station, Nina took in the time to admire the scenery. She thought it was very lovely and enjoyed having the wind blow right across her funnel, "This is the life," she hummed happily to herself.

All too soon, they reached the Transfer Point station where they found James all set to go back with the next load of passengers.

Yumi and Ami, the Japanese High Speed train was at the platform waiting for Nina's passengers, "right on time newby," said Ami from the back, but in a rude way, "if you had been slow, you'd never hear the end of it from me."

"Oh hush up back there," retorted Yumi. She sighed unhappily and apologized to Nina, "I'm sorry about her, she sometimes doesn't know when she's being rude, but she's quite nice really."

Nina and James both felt sorry for Yumi.

The passengers left Nina's train while the passengers on the Japanese High Speed Bullet twins boarded her own train, "Well good luck on the rest of your runs today Nina," called Yumi as they pulled away, "you're doing well."

"Thank you," Nina called back as they and James departed. "I haven't pulled passenger trains in years and yet I still got it, if only the others could see me now," she thought only to herself.

"Come on Nina," said her Driver, "let's get you uncoupled and take you to the back of the train."

So once the fireman had uncoupled Nina from the train, she quickly puffed over to the end of the siding, changed tracks and then went to the back. She once again buffered up to the train with no bashing whatsoever. Ayumi the coach remained silent and didn't do anything rash.

Back at the big railway station, there were alot of people waiting on the platform. They were all waiting to board James and Nina's trains. But even after James arrived and had collected fresh passengers, there were still lots of people waiting to go.

"Cor blimey, I haven't seen this many passengers in a long time," said James' Driver, "I think the Man in the Suit might have to arrange for another train just to take them all."

Very soon, many of the passengers had boarded James' train and once the guard blew his whistle, James set off.

As he puffed out of the station though, he noticed a man and a woman waiting for the next train. The woman did not look too well, "she's probably under the weather," he thought to himself, "and if that's true, why doesn't she stay home where she can get better?"

The woman was indeed under the weather. She was running a very high fever and she felt weak in the knees. Her husband noticed this right away and grew concerned, "are you sure we should be going out to your sister's place today?" he asked, "it is quite a long way's off and I know you're not feeling well."

"For the last time, I'm fine," she said stubbornly, "it's just a little cold, that's all. Anyways, I promised my sister that we'd come visit her today and nothing you say or do will make me change my mind."

"Right," he groaned and rolled his eyes. He could obviously see that his wife was not okay, but he decided not to say anything more.

Also on the platform was a police officer. Although all of the Tokyo Terrors, apart from the four bosses, were now in jail, the station could still be at high risk for a robbery to take place. To sort this problem out, police officers would come to the station and stand guard as passengers boarded and got off the trains. Normally, police officers don't mind if they stand outside for quite a long time, but today, the police officer was freezing as he stood in his spot, "I almost wish something would happen," he thought to himself, "it would be much better than freezing here all day."

Something was going to happen and it was going to happen a few minutes before Nina came back into the station.

The woman that was under the weather looked out to see if the train was coming, then it happened. She suddenly passed out and fell off the platform and onto the railway tracks, "honey!" cried her husband, "are you okay?"

There was no reply from his wife, then they all heard Nina's loud whistle, "come on honey, wake up!" cried her husband, but the woman didn't move.

The officer heard the cries and ran to see what was going on. When he got to that part of the platform, he saw that the woman's husband was about to step off the platform, "don't do that!" he shouted, "it's dangerous to stand on the tracks when a train is coming."

"I have to go down there, my wife has fainted and fallen onto the tracks!"

The officer looked down and saw the woman. Without wasting another second, he jumped off the platform and down to ground level. He picked up the woman and lifted her towards the platform. The woman's husband and several passengers helped bring her back onto the platform and to safety.

"Peep! Peep!" came the sound of a whistle.

They all looked and saw that Nina was coming into the station. She was going slowly, but it wouldn't give the officer a chance to run to the other side of the platform and he certainly didn't want to be on the other line in case a train came through.

So he decided to climb up back onto the platform, but there was a problem. The platform was very high and nearly impossible to get back up, "help me up!" he cried.

The woman's husband and another passenger grabbed hold of the officer's arms and helped pull him up.

"Look out!" cried Nina's Driver and sounded the whistle loud and long.

"What's going on?" asked Nina.

"There's someone on the tracks," answered the fireman. Nina gasped and hoped for the best.

Thanks to the woman's husband and several other passengers who came to help, the police officer was able to get back onto the platform, just in the nick of time.

"Whew! That was too close," gasped the officer.

Nina came to a smooth stop, then her Driver ran out of the cab to see if everyone was alright, "we're alright," said the officer, "although that's a little more excitment than what I was hoping for."

"Yeah I'm sorry about that," said the woman's husband, "and I'm sure my wife is sorry too."

"Ah don't worry, no harm done, but I have to know, why did she pass out in the first place?"

"Well sir, she's a little under the weather at the moment and instead of staying home to get better, she wanted to ride the train so we could visit her sister today. I swear she's just as stubborn as her sister."

"I am not," said the woman, who finally woke up. She had no idea of what was really going on.

"Well miss, I'm going to give you some advice," said the officer, "if you're not feeling well anytime soon, please just stay home and make arrangements to meet up with your family some other time. Otherwise you'll end up in a great deal of trouble and next time, there might not be an officer there to help you."

"Yes sir," muttered the woman. Nina shivered, it was something she did not want to think about.

**Author's Note:**

This story was based on two real life events. The first event happened in 2013 when a person passed out on the platform and fell onto the railway tracks. Lucky for that person, a police officer was nearby and helped the woman to safety long before the train arrived. The second event is based on a railway safety campaign video where it showed several people climbing up from track level to the platform just as a train was coming in. The last person of the group just barely managed to escape being hit by the train. When and where these events happened is unknown.

_**Nina the Helpful Engine**_

Yoshida's nerves had sadly been shaken up badly following her little meet with Maggie after James had been vandalised, but now she was finally starting to get her confidence back, which meant she could be seen quite often near the Little Tokyo Railroad. Sadly, she has to keep a good look out for Maggie, cause the red head still didn't trust her and swore that if she and Yoshida ever crossed pathes again, she would teach her a lesson she would never forget.

"You know, there's still one thing that's been bothering me following the Tokyo Terror's Rein of Terror," said Laura.

"Did you have to bring that up again?" asked Li. He did not like being reminded of those terrible few weeks, "I was just starting to forget about it."

"What's on your mind Laura?" Courtney asked curiously.

"Do you remember what Yoshida said to us before? She said that she didn't vandalise James that day, which leaves me wondering - if she didn't do it, then who did?"

"I've been wondering that myself," said James, "I would love to give those little buggers a piece of my mind."

"Kinda like how you dealt with Yoshida?" Li asked with a raised eyebrow. James looked over to Li, then looked down to his buffers with a shamefaced look on his face, "in my opinion James, you should let the Man in the Suit and the police deal with those vandals."

Big Mac and Luke were quick to agree with Li, "speaking of Yoshida, where is she? I thought she'd be coming by to see us," said Laura.

No sooner had Laura asked that question then the side door of the shed opened up and in came Maggie, looking very cross, "got away from me again, that stupid little brat."

"That answer your question?" James whispered to Laura, "Maggie has a tendacy to chase her away from our yards and our sheds."

"I have my reasons for doing it James," snapped Maggie, who had heard what her father's engine said, "and trust me, she's going to pay for what she and her whole family have done. Now, where's my bag?"

"It's my cab," James moaned and rolled his eyes, "you left in there again, just like you always do."

Maggie walked up to James' cab, then she grabbed her bag and after saying good night to the engines, she set off back to the hotel, "now I can understand why everyone's nicknamed her Princess Hothead," said Li, "she certainly lives up to that name."

"Yeah I've heard that before," said James. He sighed and closed his eyes as he went to sleep, "oh I'd love to teach those troublemakers a lesson," he yawned and nothing more was said from him.

Of course, we all know who the real vandals were - it was the members of Sia's fan-club who felt very proud of themselves for what they did, but following the take-down of the Tokyo Terrors, the silly little fan-club had to keep a low profile and keep their mouths shut about the entire ordeal. They did not want to share the same fate as the Tokyo Terrors.

In the morning, Nina was brought out of the sheds and over to the goods yard. She was to take another train to the Warehouse District and bring back a load of empty trucks. There was a problem though, the fireman wasn't feeling well, "it must've been something I ate last night, but I'll be okay. Really I'll be fine."

The Driver wasn't so sure about that, "you should take some time off and relax my friend," he said, "otherwise you'll pass out and then you'll be in trouble, remember that incident with the woman or what happened with Courtney during that big storm?"

The fireman did remember and agreed to take some time off.

The Driver took Nina off to a siding just beyond the station and left her there, then he helped the fireman down from the cab and over to the station. Luckily, another police officer was standing guard close by, so there was no chance that anyone would steal Nina.

"Get well soon," Nina called out to her fireman.

"Thanks," he called weakily.

Nina waited in the siding for quite a while. She watched as the other trains rushed on past the railway station. She sighed and closed her eyes, remembering a moment from her British Railway days before the diesel engines doomed her future. She found the scene quite peaceful, but she wouldn't for too long.

Not that far away, Yoshida was walking along towards the Little Tokyo Railway. Since it was a Weekend day, she was going to help into building the new office for the Man in the Suit. She had some great ideas for the office and she was looking forward to sharing them with the Man in the Suit.

"I sure hope he likes them," she thought to herself.

Then she looked ahead and saw a group of boys all standing around, looking very suspicious. Yoshida didn't make eye contact with them and proceeded to walk past them, but the boys were going to have none of that.

"Hello, what do we have here?" one of them asked.

"Why, if it isn't little Yoshida, the girl that's been arrested two times," sniggered the second boy.

Yoshida didn't say a word and tried to go another way, but a third boy blocked her path, "What's the rush? Are you off to do some more vandalism?" he asked.

"No," she answered simply.

"Oh, she does have a voice," chuckled a fourth boy, "I guess I owe you money after all," he said to the first boy.

"Shouldn't you be in jail?" the first boy asked, "after all, you were arrested by the police not too ago."

"I was bailed out," Yoshida answered, "now will you please excuse me? I have to go."

"Not quite," said the second boy. They all surronded Yoshida, making her feel very nervous, "you see, the lads and I want to have a little fun today and since we know that you are friends with Sia, we're going to have a little fun by pounding the little scared girl."

"No you won't!" cried Yoshida. The boys blocked her escape route, but was finally able to get past them and run away. She thought she was in the clear, that was until she looked back and saw that the boys were now chasing her, "oh why does this keep happening to me?"

The boys chased Yoshida all the way down to the Little Tokyo's big station yards.

Nina was still there, she was having a little chat with the police officer. Suddenly, they heard cries for help, "that sounds like Yoshida," said Nina, "I wonder why she's crying out for help."

"I can guess why," said the officer.

Moments later, Yoshida darted past Nina in a hurry, then four more boys appeared, all of which were chasing after her.

"Stop that!" cried the officer, "leave her alone and get off the tracks! You're on railway property!"

But the boys took no notice of the officer, they just continued chasing after Yoshida. This caught the attention of Maggie, who was in the sheds, "well I was hoping to teach that little brat a lesson, but if someone else wants to do it, then it's fine by me," she smirked.

The officer continued to shout at the boys, but they still took no notice, "it's no good, they probably can't hear me over the noise of the yards and their own laughing."

"Well maybe what you need is a louder sound," said Nina. The officer turned back to the British Railway's engine, "I still have plenty of steam, so you could use my whistle to get their attention and save poor Yoshida from them."

The officer nodded in response to the idea, then he climbed up the stairwell and into the cab. He was unfamilar with the workings of a steam engine, so he didn't know what to do, "there should be a chain just above your head on the right side of my cab," said Nina, "pull on that chain as hard as you can."

"Right," said the officer and grabbed hold of the chain.

"Someone help me!" begged Yoshida.

She darted in front of Nina one more time, then..."Now!" cried Nina. The officer pulled on the whistle chain loud and long. Nina's whistle sounded off, making the boys jump in fright and forcing them to cover their ears.

The noise was deafening. Everyone who lived or worked close by came out to see what the matter was, which included the Man in the Suit, Nina's Driver and Lenalee, the temporary fireman, "what in blazes is going on?" cried the Driver.

"What?" shouted the Man in the Suit, who had to cover his ears.

Lenalee climbed into the cab and looked in to see the officer pulling on the whistle chain, "sir! You can let go of the chain now," she shouted. The officer finally let go of the chain and silence fell in the yards.

Lenalee was about to ask why the officer did that, but before she could get a word out, the officer climbed down from the cab and over towards the boys.

"Has it stopped?" one of them asked.

"Oh it's stopped and so have you," said the officer.

The boys looked and gulped to see an officer standing right in front of them, "sir, we can explain," said the leader of the group, "we were just trying to pay a vandal out for what she did to James the Red Engine."

"Nice lie, too bad though it's not going to work with me today," he said. Then he asked with a serious tone in his voice, "how do you know of what happened to James. Huh?"

"Uh...well..." the third boy was trying to think of something to get them out of this mess.

"We're not telling you," snapped the second boy, "just like we're not going to tell you that we were the ones who vandalised James."

"Shut up!" snapped the other boys. The second boy gasped, he had just blurted out everything.

"So it was you boys that did that to James," said the Man in the Suit, "I should've known it was you. You boys are just as bad as the boys in Nerine's fan-club. Why can't you be like the members of Kaede's fan-club and not cause trouble?"

The boys didn't answer, they didn't know what to say. The officer however had plenty to say, "trespassing and damage to railway property, I'd say that's more than enough reasons to send you boys to jail for quite a long time. You boys are under arrest, anything you say can and will be held aganist you in a court of law."

"You'll have to catch us first copper," smirked the leader and tried to run off.

"PEEP! PEEP!" sounded Nina's whistle again. This time, it was being pulled by Lenalee. The boy jumped in fright and stopped, this gave the officer enough time to catch up and arrest him too, "and running from a police officer, that's another offence. Care to add anymore?" The boy didn't answer or do anything. The officer got out his radio and called for back-up, "dispatch, I have the vandals who vandalised the visiting North Western's No 5. We were wrong, it wasn't Yoshida, it was just a bunch of silly stupid boys."

Back-up soon came and took the boys away to jail. The officer's shift was over, so he had to go, but before he left, he spoke to Nina, "that was a good idea you had there Nina, you certainly gave those boys a scare they'll never forget. Good work," he patted Nina on the buffer, then he left.

Yoshida walked up to Nina and thanked her too, "if you hadn't scared those boys, then they would've caught up to me and who knows what they could've done, so thank you."

"You're very welcome my young friend," Nina smiled, "I'd do it all over again if it meant helping any of my friends from getting hurt."

The Man in the Suit was very impressed with Nina, "had it been Shamus, he would've looked the other way, but you helped a friend in need. That and your work performance is just what I was looking for in a new engine. I'm pleased with you Nina and as a reward for all your hard work and for helping to catch those vandals, I'm sending you to the Warehouse District for a brand new coat of paint."

"Oh thank you sir," smiled Nina happily.

And on that note, Nina's Driver and Lenalee took Nina back to the yards to collect her train, then once coupled up, she departed to a chrous of cheers from the nearby crowds, the loudest coming from Yoshida, "thanks again Nina the Helpful Engine!" she called happily. And Nina the Helpful Engine whistled back in return.

_**The End!**_


	34. Okazaki Electric Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 34**_

_**Okazaki Electric Engines**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Recently, I learned about another railway that runs from Tokyo and goes to other cities in Japan. This railway is different from many of the other railways as it is an Electric Railway, known as the Okazaki Electric Railway and run by a man named the Electric Controller. It's surprising that we haven't heard about this railway before, but now that we know, I hope you will enjoy meeting them and hearing about their own adventures._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-A Different Kind of Railway

-A Shocking Discovery

-Black Out

-The Trap

_**A Different Kind of Railway**_

After the day's work had been done, Nina was sent off to the Warehouse District for her brand new coat of paint. She pulled into the workshops where some workmen were waiting for her, they all had paintbrushes in their hands and they also had several pots of black, red, white and yellow paint. Her Driver eased her into the workshops and stopped her right next to a strange looking carriage.

It was long, silver, had lots of windows and had something that looked like a shopping cart on top of it's roof.

"I wonder who this could be," Nina thought to herself, "I've never seen this carriage before."

She decided to strike up a conversation with the odd looking carriage, "hello there, I'm Nina, one of the Little Tokyo Railway's engines. Who might you be?"

The carriage looked over to Nina and smiled, "I'm Nagisa, I'm very pleased to meet you. I'm one of the Okazaki Electric Railway's engines."

Nina eyed the visitor with a confused look, "the what railway?"

"The Okazaki Electric Railway," Nagisa answered, still smiling the entire time, "we're a little commuter line that carries passengers from this city to another in record timing."

"You start from Tokyo?" Nina asked in surprise, "I never knew there was an electric railway. I thought the only line that goes from Tokyo to other cities is the Japanese High speed railway."

"Well it's not the only railway that goes from Tokyo to other cities, but we don't run as fast as those engines," Nagisa chuckled. "If we were on those tracks, we probably wouldn't be able to keep up to the timetable you know."

Nina chuckled as well, just as the workmen began to remove her old paintwork. She then noticed several workmen doing some work on Nagisa, "how come you're in here instead of running on your railway?"

"Repairs," Nagisa answered, "my old engine has been sputtering like crazy and my old wheels were aching, I wasn't going to be able to continue in that state. So the Electric Controller, as we call him, had me sent here for the necessary repair work and to get me ready for the upcoming busy spring season."

"Well that was good of him to do that, instead of running you till you break down completely."

Nina had been thinking back to her early days on the British Railways main line when she worked until she couldn't work anymore and was retired from active duty.

"Are you the only engine that runs on your line?" she asked.

"Not at all, there are several engines that run on the Okazaki Electric Railway," Nagisa answered. "There is my partner Vicky, she always runs at the back end of the train so that way we don't have to waste time with turning around. There's also Paige and Kira, they're like us, but Kira has a bit of an attitude and isn't afraid to speak her mind at times."

"Sounds like Shamus," Nina thought only to herself.

"There's also our new GG1 electric engine that should be arriving soon, then there's Michael, our former Pennsylvania Box cab engine and finally, there's Linda, an engine just like myself, but sadly doesn't run anymore."

"How come?" This time, the question was asked by one of the workmen that was working on Nina's paintwork.

"I think I know why," said one of the other workmen, "wasn't she one of the engines that was involved in the accident at the Leap of Faith bridge?"

"Afraid so," Nagisa answered sadly.

"Why is it called the Leap of Faith bridge?" Nina asked curiously.

"Well it has alot to do with two incidents," Nagisa answered. "The first one involved one of our Controllers, Mr. Okazaki the first. He had some troubles at home and couldn't take anymore, so he tied one end of a rope to his left leg and the other end to a very big rock, then he jumped from the bridge - it was a dreadful day when we heard that he jumped off the bridge."

"Poor man," said Masuko the Crane from nearby.

"We held a funeral train for him shortly after that day, there were many sad faces lining up beside the line and all saluted him as the train went to his final stop - it truely was a sad day for all of us." Nagisa stopped and shedded a tear from her right eye. Nina, the cranes and the workmen all gave a moment of silence for Mr. Okazaki the first.

"The second incident," Nagisa continued, "happened less than a year later. It was a cold winter's night, Linda and her partner Sammy were travelling home with a full train."

"There had been a football game that night in a nearby city and they were the last train to come home with all the passengers that were looking forward to a good night's rest. They were making good timing, but soon they ran into trouble at the bridge. Some pieces of the bridge had broken off and now there was a huge gap in between the rails. Sammy, who was at the front and her Driver knew nothing about it until it was much too late. They jumped off the bridge and went splashing into the water with a big splash!"

"Vicky and I were sent with rescuers and paramedics, expecting to see the entire train in the water, but we were proven wrong."

"How come?" asked Nayuki the Big Over-head crane curiously.

"Well the moment we arrived, we saw that Linda wasn't in the water," Nagisa answered, "she was balanced perfectly on the egde of the bridge like what my Driver would call a teeter-totter. All of her passengers had managed to escape a cold bath and had walked off back to the last station to stay warm and to call for help."

Nina was quite surprised by what she heard, "talk about lucky," she said in amazement, "But what about the rest of the passengers?"

"They had been in the water for a long period of time, but thankfully they all came out of the water safely. Cold, wet and battered, but they were okay."

"Sammy and some of her coaches though were not so lucky as they had been badly damaged in the accident. Mr. Okazaki II had no choice but to scrap them and leave Linda in the sheds until such a time that he could either find or built a new engine that could work with her."

"Oh dear," said Nina, "she must be upset about not being able to work."

"Indeed she is, just like any engine would," said Nagisa, "but she's not complaining about it, she knows that our current Electric Controller, Mr. Okazaki III is doing the best he can to live up to his father's words and get her back onto the railway again."

"That's good to hear," Nina smiled, but then groaned as a workmen pushed the paint peeler too hard and scratched her, "careful, that hurts."

"Sorry," called the workman.

"It's alright," sighed Nina and then she turned her attention back to Nagisa. "If your railway is so important to the people of Japan, how come we've never heard of you before?"

"It's simple, we're not as famous as the Little Tokyo Railway, the High Speed Railway or even the Park Railway, "answered Nagisa. "We're just a small commuter line doing their regular jobs. We don't mind it though, we're happy with our quiet little lives - although I wouldn't ask Kira if she agrees with me."

Nina could only guess what Kira would say if she did meet the electric engine face to face.

Masuko piped up, "what's your railway like anyways?"

"Oh it's a very beautiful line. It's long enough to give us a good run and gives us plenty to see along the way. We travel over bridges, which includes the Leap of Faith bridge and we also travel through the cities. Sometimes we're on street level with everyone else and other times, we run through our own canals below the streets."

"Sounds interesting," said Nina, "I wish I could see the Okazaki Electric Main Line."

"Sorry Nina, but the only way you would be able to see the line is if you were an Electric Engine."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well it's dangerous for a steam engine or even a diesel to travel along on that line, for they could create something called a Flashover," Nagisa explained. "A flashover happens when smoke from a steam engine or from a diesel hits the wires and when it happens, sparks fly from the wires and falls down towards the engine and everyone below. It makes a horrible screeching noise, which is quite terrifing."

"To prevent that from happening, the Electric Controller has a strict rule saying that no steam or diesel engines are allowed on our line."

"Oh," Nina sighed unhappily.

"But if you want, when my Driver comes, I can ask him to show you the photographs he has taken of the line."

"I would like that," Nina smiled.

Nina and Nagisa talked throughout most of the evening, even long after the workmen had gone home for the day. They were chatting like old friends, even though they had just met. Nina was quite impressed and was looking forward to when she could tell her friends about the electric railway.

**Author's Note:**

The train accident on the 'Leap of Faith' bridge is based on the real life event where a delicate balance saved the passengers in the last coach of a passenger train from death. The bridge had collapsed under the weight of the passenger train, the engine and the rest of the coaches went into the Little Miami River at Batavia, Ohio on Oct. 17, 1884 while the last coach remained on the edge of the bridge, which allowed all the passengers to escape and get to safety.

_**A Shocking Discovery**_

A few days later, the latest addition to the Okazaki Electric Railway finally arrived in the City of Tokyo and was now being transported by lorry to the main terminus of the railway. The engine was quite long, shaped like a retangular box with curves on each corner and was painted in the same maron red paintjob some Pennsylvania Railroad coaches had, but instead of having the word 'Pennyslvania' on both sides, it had the words 'Okazaki Electric'.

As the lorry travelled down the road, all eyes seemed to be looking at it and the cargo on it's trailer.

"I've never seen that many faces looking at us," said the lorry Driver, "but then again, we've never carried such an unusual piece of cargo on our trailer before."

"And I'll be glad once we get rid of it for good," groaned the lorry.

The engine heard, but payed no attention to the lorry. He was taking the time to enjoy the sights and smile to all the people, gods and demons that watched them pass. Sia was one of them, she was quite surprised when they passed, "what on earth is that thing?" she asked, "is it an engine?"

"It is an engine as a matter of a fact," answered another voice. Sia turned and saw that the voice belonged to Drew, who was on his way to the grocery store, "That Sia is a former Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 electric engine, once used on the electric lines the Pennsy used to run over. Those engines were designed to haul both passenger trains and on occassion, it pulled goods trains too."

"Wow," Sia said in amazement. Then she asked, "is there anything you don't know about trains?"

Drew thought about it for a moment, then he answered by saying, "I don't know," this got a chuckle from both Sia and Drew. "Still, it makes me wonder where these Pennsy engines keep popping up from."

A short while later, the lorry arrived at the main terminus where Mr. Okazaki III, the Electric Controller was waiting for them.

"Any problems on the way here?" he asked the lorry Driver.

"Nope, the lorry was complaining alot due to the cargo we were carrying, but the run was as smooth as butter."

Using the cables and wenches, the lorry Driver lowered the big GG1 electric engine off the flatbed and carefully placed it onto the solid steel rails. The Electric Controller payed the driver for delivering the engine, then he went to speak with him, "well Alexander, how does it feel now that you're back in good working order?"

"Honestly sir, it feels great," answered the engine, whose name was Alexander. "It feels much better than sitting around in a junky old scrapyard and rusting away to nothing."

"I bet it does," smiled the Electric Controller.

At that moment, another man came running up. He stopped in front of the Electric Controller all out of breath, "sorry I'm late sir, I forgot to set my alarm to the proper time last night."

"Oh that's okay Angus, these happen from time to time."

"I promise that in future, I'll set my alarm to the correct time."

"Good, now come meet our newest engine." The Electric Controller led the man to the front of the engine where they did their introductions. "Now that that's been said and done, let's get our new engine fired up and test him out on the main line."

Alexander's new Driver climbed up one side of the engine and climbed into the cab while the Electric Controller climbed into the cab on the other side. All GG1 engines come with four cabs, two on one side and two on the other side. All four cabs were small, only designed for one person to stay in there, so that's why the Electric Controller had to stay in one of the other cabs.

The Driver flicked a switch and within seconds, one of the objects that looked like a shopping cart, lifted upwards till it touched the wires, then they went off to collect some coaches. They quickly got coupled up to the former Pennsylvania Railway coaches, then they set off down the line.

All Stationmasters along the line had been told of the test train and so they made sure that the lines were clear as the test train rolled by.

Many of the other engines were impressed with the new arrival and Michael, the Box Cab engine, shouted hello to his old friend when he passed. Only Kira, one of the railway's original passenger engines, grumbled at the sight of the new arrival, "we don't need him here," she said, "we can manage."

"Oh really?" asked Paige from the back of the train. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it you who said that we need some more help."

"Pah shut up," snapped Kira and at that moment, they got the all clear signal. The Driver opened the throttle and the passenger engines rattled out of their siding and back onto the main line.

Further down the line, two little boys were playing with their newest toy - it was a kite that looked like a flying Dragon. It was flying high in the sky, thanks to the wind blowing on it, "I'm sure glad mom and dad bought us this kite," said one of the boys.

"You can say that again," agreed his brother. "Can you make it go higher?" he asked with excitment.

"You bet," answered his brother and with that, he made it soar high into the sky.

They were having so much fun flying their new kite that they didn't notice that it was starting to fly too close to the power lines. It was Sakura Yae, Kaede's old childhood friend, that noticed the danger in the making, "hey you two, get your kite away from those power lines before it strikes!"

The boys were laughing so loudly that they didn't hear Sakura's warning. A few seconds later, they wished they had.

A strong gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew the kite towards the power lines. The kite made contact and within seconds, the one brother was being shocked badly.

"Let go of the rope bro!" cried his brother with a worried tone in his voice.

But his brother couldn't let go, he was stuck in the postion he was in and being shocked badly. Sakura Yae couldn't just stand by and watch. She ran over towards the boy and reacting quickly, she knocked him off his feet, which finally allowed him to let go of the string. The boy fell backwards, but thankfully was caught by Sakura.

"Bro!" cried his brother, "are you okay?"

His brother groaned in pain, but didn't answer back, "I'm going to say 'no'," said Sakura Yae. "He was holding onto that string for well over five seconds, so he's probably been given the worst shock of his life. We need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible."

"But the nearest hospital is a good distance away from here, how are we going to get him there on time?"

Sakura Yae wasn't enterily sure, but before she could say that to the boy, they heard a horn in the distance. It was Alexander and his test train, "that's how we can get him there," she answered. "Go wave to the engine and it's crew, but don't stand too close to the tracks, I'll stay with your brother."

The boy did as he was told. He ran as close as he could get to the tracks, then he started waving frantically to get the engine's attention. Both Alexander and his Driver saw the boy waving and slowed down to a smooth stop.

"What's going on Angus?" called the Electric Controller from his cab.

"Please help us!" cried the boy before the Driver could answer, "my brother has been shocked badly and he needs help."

Without wasting a second, both the Driver and the Electric Controller ran over to Sakura Yae and the shocked boy, "oh dear, that's a severe shock," said the Electric Controller, "How long was he holding onto the string?"

"Well over five seconds," Sakura Yae answered.

"Right then, get him into one of the carriages, we'll take you to the street close to the hospital."

Sakura Yae carried the boy into the first carriage and layed him down on one of the seats. His brother stayed close by while saying comforting words. The Electric Controller and Alexander's Driver climbed back into the cabs, then they set off down the line.

Alexander rolled on down the line, this time not taking the time to admire the sights all around him. All that really mattered to him was getting the boy safely to the hospital. They continued rattling along until at last they reached the road to the hospital, "thanks for getting us here," Sakura Yae called to them, "we can make our way to the hospital from here!"

"Okay well good luck!" they all called and watched them leave.

"I do hope that they will be okay," Alexander said with a worried tone in his voice.

"So do we boy, so do we," said his Driver. He opened the throttle again and the test train continued on it's way.

The Electric Controller called the Driver on the hand-held radio, "on our way back, please stop Alexander at the place we picked up our new friends, there's something there we need to pick up."

"Understood sir," said the Driver.

The boy that had gotten shocked spent a few days in the hospital, which worried not only his brother and Sakura Yae, but also the boy's parents. They were relieved when the boy had recovered from his electrical shock and was able to go home. Before they did that though, they went to thank Sakura Yae, then they went to the main terminus of the Okazaki Electric Railway to thank Alexander, his Driver and the Electric Controller.

"All in a day's work," smiled Alexander, "we're just glad he's okay."

The Electric Controller and his Driver agreed, then the Electric Controller asked the question, "how did he get shocked anyways?"

"It's my fault," the boy sighed unhappily, "I was flying our new kite too close to your power lines and only too late did we realise that."

"Well boys, I hope you now learned a valuable lesson from this experience and maybe next time, you'll stay away from the power lines." The boys both agreed and promised to be more careful in future. "Alright then, so that leaves one thing left to do - Angus! Can you get that thing we picked up?"

Alexander's Driver climbed up into the cab, reached into it, then climbed down with the kite in his hands, "I think this belongs to you boys."

"Thank you very much," the boys said happily in unison. The boys were happy to get their kite back, but nowadays they only fly their kite in the park and away from the power lines, just to be on the safe side.

_**Black Out**_

Electric Railway engines are not like regular diesel engines. They have engines inside of them, just like any diesel engine, but the engine is useless without being given some power to help make the train go. The engine's power comes from the overhead wires and with the help of the towers that sit on their roofs.

This in turn provides reliable service, but there is always one thing many electric engines worry about.

One afternoon, Michael was rumbling along with his passenger carriages when he noticed some electricians driving over to the main power plant, "hmm, I wonder if something is wrong at the plant," Michael thought to himself.

At the next station, he met with Kira and Paige, who were collecting some passengers.

"I just saw some electricians heading over towards the power plant," Michael told them, "something must be wrong there."

"Oh for crying out loud Michael," groaned Kira from the front of the train, "You're always thinking something is going wrong. A little creak on the bridge makes you worry it could fall apart, a dark cloud in the sky makes you worry that there's a thunderstorm coming."

"I don't always assume that trouble is coming," Michael said in protest, "I'm just expressing my concerns that's all."

"Well next time, keep them to yourself," Kira said rudely, "I for one, don't want to hear them anymore."

Michael felt offended by Kira's words. Paige quickly apologized to Michael just as their doors closed and the train pulled out of the station. "I feel sorry for Paige," Michael thought to himself, "having to work with rude Kira."

At that moment, Michael was given the all clear signal and he rumbled out of the station.

Sometime later, the electricains arrived at the power plant and went to work. Today, they were merely doing inspections on the place and do the necessary work that needed to be done, "This will be an easy job today," said one of them, "especially with that former Track Boss fired."

"Well you can't blame our boss really," said another worker, "after the shoddy piece of work he did, which caused the high-rise fire, I would've done the same thing."

"Still, it makes you wonder of where that former Track Boss is working now."

They were due to find out as they saw a person pushing a very big cart full of materials past them. His face was all too familar, "so this is where you ended up working huh?" asked the other electrician, "at least you won't be able to cause any damage with shoddy work."

"My work was not shoddy, it was a fine piece of work, it was the faulty equipment in that building that caused the fire," he said angerily.

"Right, after you meddled with it."

The Former Track Boss snorted and walked away. The two electricians chuckled quietly, then they went back to their inspection work.

Sometime later that afternoon, Kira and Paige pulled back into the first station of the Okazaki Electric Main Line, then once the passengers had gotten out, they were switched from one line to another and pulled into the platform full of waiting passengers.

Two of which were Asa and Rin on a late night date. Both were dressed in fancy clothes, "you're going to love this resturant Rin," Asa was saying to him, "The food there is delicous and best of all, we can have a good night out without worrying if Mayumi is going to show up with that camera of her's."

"That's good," sighed Rin, "cause I don't like it when she takes pictures of us just because we're going out on a date."

The two of them went to board the train, only to end up having a shoving match with many of the other passengers. They managed to get in, but Asa's long green hair was now in the doorway.

The doors started to close and Rin noticed Asa's hair. He quickly grabbed her right arm and pulled her towards him, getting her long hair out of the doorway, "oh geez," gasped Asa, "that was too close, I didn't even notice that my hair was stuck in the doorway. Thanks Rin, you're a regular lifesaver."

She then gave him a hug to show him how grateful she was. Rin just smiled and hugged Asa back.

Meanwhile, back at the power plant, the electricians were just finishing up their inspection work, "everything's looking pretty good," one of them said to their boss, "and all repairs have been done pefectly - I checked to make sure."

"Most excellent," smiled the electrician boss. "Looks like we'll be out of here sooner than we thought."

Or so they thought. The former Track Boss was once again moving some supplies around with his cart. He was grumbling crossly about having lost his original job, "I should be doing that," he thought to himself, "then maybe I could show that former boss of mine of how good of a worker I am."

He was so busy thinking of how he could show how useful he could be, that he didn't notice that his cart was going the wrong way and heading straight for one of the generators that help provide power to the city of Tokyo. The two electricians noticed him though, "hey watch out! You're heading for the generator!"

"What?" exclaimed the former Track Boss as he snapped out of his thoughts. By then, it was much too late. The cart was too heavy and he couldn't stop it. He jumped out of the way as his cart went crashing into the generator. There came a grinding, groaning noise, then everyone backed out of the way as it exploded, which was followed by several more explosions as debris went into the other generators.

On the railway, Kira and Paige were now just crossing the famous 'Leap of Faith' bridge. They were making good timing when all of the sudden, the power went out and their speed decreased, "what's happening?" Kira asked.

"There's no power," cried their Driver, "we can't go on!"

Kira and Paige struggled on as best as they could, but they soon stopped right in the middle of the Leap of Faith bridge.

"What's going on?" cried the passengers, "why did we stop here? This isn't a station!"

"Of course it isn't," said Kira and Paige's Driver, "but we're experiencing a bit of a black out, meaning we have no power to get our train moving. Don't worry though, I'm sure the people at the power plant are going to fix the problem in no time."

Asa sighed unhappily, "something's always coming up to ruin our evening," she said.

At the power plant, the electrician boss and the owner of the power plant were checking to make sure that everyone was okay. Thankfully there were no serious injuries, just shaky nerves.

"You dumb baka!" snapped the plant owner to the former track boss, "I give you a simple job to do and somehow, you manage to screw that one up!"

"It wasn't my fault!" he snapped in protest, "I was distracted by..."

"Your thoughts of being perfect," said one of the electricians.

The former Track Boss was about to snap back, but was interupted by the Plant Owner, "you're lucky that this wasn't a nuclear power plant, otherwise more than dozens of people would be hurt or worse."

The former Track Boss went silent at once, somehow arguing his case didn't seem to be the right thing to do.

"I'm sorry sir, is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, you've done more than enough for one night. I want you to go home and stay there until I call you in, we'll discuss this later."

"Yes sir," sighed the former Track Boss. He turned on his heel and walked sadly away.

"Not to worry sir," said the electrician's boss, "we can have the power back on in no time and we'll fix your generators faster than you can say 'Okazaki Electric Railway'."

It took alot longer than that. The generators were in bad shape and would take days to repair and get running again. On the electric Railway, the Driver had to let the passengers walk back to the last station just so that they could go home while the engines were left stranded on the main line.

"I wish I had an engine like a diesel," Kira muttered unhappily.

Finally after days of work, the generators were fixed and were turned on. They ran perfectly, "sorry sir, I guess we took a little longer than we thought to fix the generators," said the electrician boss.

"Nah that's okay," said the plant owner, "it's better to do it right the first time than to do it wrong and have problems later on."

The people of Tokyo were happy to once again have their power restored, but it was the Okazaki Electric Engines that were the most pleased as this meant that they could finally return to their yards and later on, return to work. Kira was glad of this and did apologize to Michael for being so rude, but she hopes never to be left stranded on the main line ever again.

The plant owner is making sure of that as the generators are given daily inspections and as for the former Track Boss, well, he wasn't fired from his job, but he was demoted to something even he couldn't mess up - cleaning the floors of the cafeteria.

**Author's Note:**

This story was deeply inspired by the many tales I had heard of black outs that lasted for days, which included the black out in 2002 that lasted from the afternoon and into the early hours of the next morning.

_**The Trap**_

Although the Okazaki Electric Main Line runs with passenger services, it has one train that very few people know about. It is a goods train known to the railway staff as 'The Late Night Goods'. This service began when Mr. Okazaki I, the first Electric Controller was in charge of the railway and has continued on to this very day, as ordered by the current Electric Controller. The train carries supplies, equipment and any other deliveries that need to go to the stations along the line.

When the train is called upon, the Electric Controller will send either one of his former Pennsylvania Railroad electric engines to take the train, but either one of them is busy, then one of the passenger engines can take the train. Most of them don't mind this - well except for Kira, who will complain none stop about it, which is probably why the Electric Controller will check to see if the others are available before going to see her.

A few nights after the Black Out Incident, Alexander the Big GG1 electric engine was rattling along on the rails with the Late Night goods.

"Just one more stop boy and we'll be done," his Driver said to him.

"Oh so soon?" Alexander pouted, "I was actually hoping it would last longer."

The driver chuckled, but not for too long as there came a bang from somewhere on Alexander's body, "what was that?" he exclaimed. Then another object was thrown at Alexander, smacking him on the left side of the face, "I repeat, what was that?"

Suddenly, they were being bombarded by rocks and other hard objects. They smashed aganist Alexander's body, denting parts of him and even smashing one of the cab windows, "Whoa!" Alexander exclaimed, "let's get out of here!"

"You don't need to tell me twice Alexander," said his Driver and he opened the throttle even more, making the electric engine race faster down the rails.

"Just look at them run," sniggered a voice, "now that was fun."

The objects had been thrown by the three former bosses of the Tokyo Terrors, Asuna, Vypra and Rachel. They also had one trainee, it was a young male teenager who had runaway from home after a fight with his parents, "very nice lad," Rachel said, sounding quite proud. "Keep this up and you could have this city in the palm of your hands."

"Heck, you might be able to show our cousin that her days are numbered," added Vypra with a smirk on her face.

"Uh thanks, I guess." The young boy wasn't so sure that what he was doing was right, but he didn't dare say so to the three sisters.

Since the takedown of the Tokyo Terrors, the three Sudrian cousins were determined to rebuilt their empire and to also show their cousin that they were still tough. Although, they were no longer willing to help her, they wanted to leave her in their shadow and rule the city with an iron fist.

"We keep this up," Rachel whispered to Asuna and Vypra, "We will get our revenage and be rulers of this city again."

"And Sakura can eat our dust," smirked Asuna while Vypra chuckled.

In the meanwhile, Alexander had finally reached the last station on route of the Late Night Goods train. His Driver informed the stationmaster of what happened and while he contacted the Electric Controller, the Driver took Alexander over to the yards where he left the trucks and then left for the sheds.

The engines were shocked to see the dents and broken window on Alexander, "chikusho Alexander, what happened to you?" asked Paige in shock.

"I don't know, we were just rumbling along and the next thing I know, I'm being bombarded with stones and whatever else."

"Vandals, I hate vandals," Kira grumbled darkly under her breath.

Alexander's Driver climbed down and checked Alexander all over, "just minor dents," he said, "We can fix those up easily, but what I can't understand is who would do that."

"And more importantly, why late at night?" asked Paige.

"Well that's simple Paige," said Vicky from her spot in the shed, "it's better in the dark because you can hide better than you can in the daylight."

"Hmm," Michael said out loud.

"What's 'hmm' for?" Kira asked as she looked over to the box cab electric engine, "spill it out why don't you?"

"Don't be so rude Kira," Paige said firmly to her. She then looked back over to Michael, "What's on your mind Michael?"

"Well I was just thinking, what if tonight's act of vandalism was caused by members of the Tokyo Terrors group," he said.

"Don't be silly Michael," snapped Kira rudely again, "the Tokyo Terrors are all locked up in jail and this time, they've been seperated so no one can break them all out again."

"Not all of them were captured," said Linda from the dark corner of the shed.

"Linda's right," said Paige, "remember what our Driver was saying? He said that Sakura the Terror Queen herself and her three cousins are still on the loose. Maybe they were the ones that vandalised Alexander tonight."

"There's a good possibility there," said a well known voice. The engines all looked and saw the Electric Controller coming towards their shed, "according to Alexander's Driver, the objects would've had to have been thrown by more than one person cause a single person can only throw one object every five seconds."

"What can we do sir?" asked Paige.

"I already have that planned out, but in order for it to work, I will need Michael to take the Late Night Goods train tomorrow."

Michael gulped, it would mean putting himself in danger, but if the Electric Controller had a plan to deal with the troublemakers, then he knew it would be worth it, "I'll be more than glad to help sir."

"Very good," smiled the Electric Controller. "I'll tell you the plan tomorrow night," he then turned and walked away.

"Why couldn't he just tell us now?" asked Kira, "I hate being kept in the dark."

"We don't know," all the engines answered in unison.

The following next evening, Michael arrived at the last station with the late night goods train. He found the Electric Controller waiting there, along with two men in dark clothing, "What do you have planned sir?"

"Oh you'll find out soon enough," he said with a sly grin on his face, "in the meantime, all you need to know is that these men are going to be riding with you tonight."

"Uh sure sir," Michael said, still sounding a little confused.

The men climbed aboard and with a toot of the horn, Michael set off with the goods train.

At the site where Alexander had been vandalised, the three Sudrian sisters and their new partner were waiting. However, their new partner was having second thoughts, "do we really have to do this again?" he asked nervously. "I mean, what if we get caught this time?"

"Stop being a worry wurd you stupid boy," snapped Asuna, "and just get ready for when that train comes."

"No forget it!" snapped the boy and he dropped the stone he had in his hands. "I rather be grounded for a week than spend years in jail, I'm out of here."

With that said, he turned and walked off towards his home.

"Nice going stupid," snapped Rachel, "you were suppose to assure him that we'd be fine, not drive him away."

"I was assuring him," Asuna snapped back, "he's just..."

"Shut up and throw you two!" snapped Vypra, "the train is coming now."

Michael came into view with the train. He looked to his left and then to his right, but he couldn't see anyone, apart from a late night shopper. Then without warning, rocks and other objects started to be thrown at Michael.

This time, they were ready. The Driver was told to stop the train, then the two men took off. Right away, Michael knew what was going on, "They're police officers in disguise," he said, "the Electric Controller set these vandals up, what a clever man."

"Oh shoot, the police," gasped the girls and took off running, but not all of them got away as Rachel tripped and fell onto the hard sidewalk.

"Ow," she groaned, then she called out to her sisters, "get back here and help me!"

"Forget it, it's every girl for themselves," shouted Vyrpa and without saying another word, they took off.

Rachel got up quickly, but it wasn't fast enough as the police caught up to her, "well, well, well, if it isn't one of the Sudrian Cousins of Sakura, we've been looking for you for sometime," said one of the officers.

"So has our department," said the other officer, "they're very interested in talking to you again."

Rachel fought aganist them, but soon she was handcuffed and was taken off to jail. Vypra and Asuna were cross and tried coming up with plans to get their cousin out of jail. Watching from a dark alley stood Sakura the Terror Queen herself, "Serves them right, the dumb bakas," She muttered and then disappeared into the darkness.

Later that night, Michael arrived back at the sheds and after explaining everything, he told them the news, "it was the Sudrian Sisters and while two escaped, the police caught one of them and she is going back to jail."

"What a relief," sighed Alexander, "hopefully now they'll think twice before vandalising our trains again."

Thankfully after that night, no one has dare tried to vandalise the trains, meaning smooth and unexpected runs all the way. As for the runaway boy, he confused about what he did and was punished by his parents. He didn't mind though, he perfered to be home again instead of being on the streets as a troublemaker.

As for Rachel, she was taken to court and sentenced back to jail for a longer sentence than what she had before. Somehow though, I don't think we've heard the last from Rachel. What do you think?

_**The End!**_


	35. The New Park Railway Engine

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 35**_

_**The New Park Railway Engine**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_With the return of the spring season, the Amusement Park and it's miniature Railway were finally reopened for business. Now you've probably been wondering about Kayio, the japanese engine that had a serious cylinder failure in the book 'Amusement Park Engines', well I'm happy to say that she's back on the railway and is doing quite well again and so is the newest addition to the fleet. Who is this engine? Well, I can't tell you that right now, you'll have to read the stories to find out._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-The Start of Another Season

-Just a Little Bit Nervous

-Monkey Around

-Rose and the Bully

_**The Start of Another Season**_

Spring was returning to the City of Tokyo and with it's return came the reopening of the Amusement Park and the Park Railway. The little engines were pleased of this cause they had been locked up in their shed ever since the Autumn season came to an end - well, all except for Kayio, who had suffered a very serious cylinder failure during one of her runs during the Autumn season. She had spent the rest of the season and a good portion of the winter season in the workshops of the Warehouse District.

The Drivers opened the doors and Karen groaned, "Ugh! That sunlight sure is bright."

"Well I guess it would be if you've been locked up in the sheds for quite a long time," chuckled her Driver, "but don't worry Karen, you'll get used to it again."

The Drivers went to their engines and got them ready to begin their first day of work. Kayio's Driver was happy to see his engine again and pleased with the work that was done on her, "hopefully now we won't have something like that Cylinder Failure happen again," he said.

"You and me both," agreed Kayio.

Just then, the Park Controller arrived, "Good morning everyone, it's good to see you all again," he said cheerfully, "as you know, we are beginning our new season today and I have a feeling we're going to have a lot of visitors come to see the park and us too."

"That's what we're hoping for sir," smiled Michelle, "we would love the chance to work again."

The Park Controller smiled, "I'm glad to hear that Michelle," he said. "Now onto the work, Kayio, Karen and Michelle, you'll be pulling passenger trains today as per usual, but first Gary, I need you to collect the Supply train and take supplies to all the different areas of the park."

Gary gave off several looks to show that he understood and was ready for work. The Park Controller was about to turn away when suddenly Karen asked, "When's the new engine coming?"

"Oh geez I almost forgot to mention that, thanks for reminding me Karen," he said. "The new engine will be arriving later tonight."

The engines and their crews were pleased with this news. They had been looking forward to the arrival of this new comer and were eager to meet her. The Park Controller turned and walked away, just as a familar spluttering tractor came into view.

"Still haven't gotten your engine fixed yet Darren?" Karen asked with a sly grin.

"Oh shut up you stupid little toy!" he snapped.

"You know you should get your engine looked at before you break down again," said Kayio, "don't forget, you have broken on several occassions during our last season."

"And both times we had to rescue you," smirked Karen.

Darren coughed and snorted before chugging away. Although Karen now had a better attitude than she did before, she still liked teasing Darren, mostly because she was that sort of engine.

"I see some things don't change around here," chuckled Kayio quietly.

Gary gave off expressions to show that he agreed with Kayio, then he rumbled away to collect the Supply Train. When he first arrived, he and his Driver found about forty people waiting at the gates, but when the steam engines came out with their passenger trains, they found even more people waiting outside the gates.

"We're going to have a busy day today and that's no mistake," said Kayio to her Driver.

Kayio was quite right, the engines were kept busy all day long taking visitors from the front gates to anywhere they wanted to go around the park. There were so many people that the line ups at the front gate didn't seem to get any smaller, even after a large amount of people got into the coaches. At one point, the Park Controller had no choice but to send Gary out with some passenger coaches.

"There sure are a lot of visitors," Karen called to Kayio as she overtook her during one of her runs, "it's a good thing that we're in good working order, otherwise we'd really be in trouble."

"I'm more concerned about you Karen! It's been a long time since you had an overhaul."

"That's right," said Karen's Driver, "you've been meaning to have an overhaul for some time haven't you?"

"Perhaps, but I'm okay for now," Karen answered. Truth be told though, she wasn't completely okay as she grew more tired than the other engines and often had to stop to catch her breath and to raise her steam preasure again.

At nine that evening, the engines and the park employees were tired, but pleased to have had a busy day, "Whew," gasped Kayio, "I haven't seen that many people since our grand opening."

"Neither have I," sighed Michelle in agreement.

Just then, the Park Controller's voice came over the intercom system for the park, "will Kayio, Karen, Michelle and Gary please report to the front gates as soon as possible," he said.

"It must be the new engine," said Karen, "She must've arrived."

"Well we'll find out soon enough," said Karen's Driver.

Karen lead the way, followed by Kayio, then Michelle and finally, Gary brought up the rear. At that moment, the lorry with the special delivery was backing into the park using the wide enterance way made for tractors and lorries. The Driver was being guided by the Park Controller and Maggie, who was one of the Steamworks workers that had helped to build the new engine.

"Easy does it now," Maggie called, "you're almost in! Perfect, you're in."

By the time the engines arrived, they found their newest addition being unloaded by a crane brought in before the lorry arrived. It was a long engine with four front wheels, eight driving wheels and four back wheels and it was painted with a black, orange and red paintwork. There was a small logo on both sides of it's 'skirt' as it was called which read 'Daylight Express', then there was a number plate below it's face and had numbers underneath it's cab windows which read '4449'.

"Wow, that's a beautiful engine," said Karen out loud.

"I never thought I'd see the day when we'd get a Daylight engine," said Michelle. Her Driver was a huge railroading fan and so had told her a long time ago about the Daylight engines, that's how she knew about that type of engine.

The engine was soon on the tracks and was coupled up to it's tender, "Very nice work Miss Maggie," said the Park Controller.

"Thanks sir, we did our best with this one and it's just Maggie," she said.

"Oh sorry about that," he apologized.

"It's okay," she said. Then she turned her attention to the new engine, "well my friend, you're finally here after all this time. I hope you will enjoy your home and don't worry, I'll come by to visit you before I return to Sodor with James."

"Thank you," the engine said quietly.

Maggie said good night to the Park Controller, then she left with the lorry and the crane. The Park Controller then turned to the engines, "Kayio, Karen, Michelle and Gary, I would like to introduce you to our newest engine, Rose."

"Welcome Rose to our railway," Kayio said kindly.

"Uh thank you I guess," she said with a shy tone in her voice.

"Is something wrong Rose?" Michelle asked.

"Uh no, nothing's wrong," she answered quietly.

"Now then," continued the Park Controller, "Karen, I would like you and Kayio to take Rose back to the sheds, we'll get her fired up tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir," said the two engines in chrous.

Karen switched over to Rose's line and got coupled up to her, she then pulled the new Daylight engine forwards to allow Kayio to couple up. Rose took the time to look around, she thought the Amusement Park was huge, which made her worry a little bit, "I hope I can do well here..." her thoughts were interupted as Kayio coupled up.

"Off we go to the sheds," Karen called.

The engines sounded off their whistles and horn, then they set off. The Park Controller watched for a bit, then he turned on his heel and walked away.

On the way to the sheds, the Park Railway engines showed Rose some of the sections and the sights all around them, "it's nice," she said quietly, "but it's quite big."

"It won't seem like that tomorrow," Karen chuckled, "especially with all the visitors that will come."

"Visitors," Rose muttered quietly. She gulped, but very quietly so no one could hear her.

"What in the heck do you have there?" asked a rude voice. It was coming from Darren the Tractor again, "you got another piece of scrap iron with you?" Rose felt hurt by this remark. Karen wheesed steam and covered Darren in it, "stupid engines."

"Don't take any notice of Darren," Karen advised to Rose, "he can be a little rude from time to time. He just can't help himself."

Very soon, they reached the sheds. Michelle, Kayio and Gary all got parked in there first, then Karen shunted Rose into her berth, "get a good night's rest Rose, we're going to be busy tomorrow," she said and puffed off to her part of the shed.

Rose showed an encouraging smile, but deep down inside, she was feeling rather nervous.

_**Just a Little Bit Nervous**_

The following next morning, the Park Controller and a new railway employee arrived at the sheds to find the five engines waiting for them. "So sir, which engine is going to be my engine?" asked the female Driver.

"That's your engine right there Rinko," he answered and pointed towards Rose.

Rose looked up to her Driver, but instead of showing her a smile, Rose looked at her with a nervous look upon her face. Rinko the Driver could see this and so, she spoke kindly to the engine, "I know you're properly a little nervous in being in a new place and seeing faces you've never seen before, but don't you worry, you will overcome your nervousness and grow to love it here."

"I sure hope so," she muttered quietly.

"My name is Rinko by the way, I'm going to be your Driver. Can I ask what your name is?"

"It's Rose, I'm the Park Railway's new No 5."

"Well I'm very pleased to meet you Rose," Rinko said happily. She then got to her feet and walked over towards the cab. She lit the fire and soon, Rose was making lots of steam, engulfing the sheds in smoke and steam.

The other engines and their crews didn't mind at all, they thought this was exciting to see the new engine getting ready for work.

"Everything seems to be in good working order sir," Rinko said after a while. "Rose has got a good head of steam and there doesn't seem to be any problems."

"Excellent," smiled the Park Controller. "Now let's see how she runs."

Rinko opened the regulator and Rose puffed slowly out of the sheds. She puffed back and forth around the yards, passing every test with flying colors.

"She's definetly ready to go sir," said Rinko the Driver.

"Not just yet, we must do one more inspection with her. So Kayio," he said turning to the miniature Japanese engine, "you will be taking the morning's first passenger train. Rose will be following you later with her coaches."

"Yes sir," said Kayio and once Rose had moved back to the sheds, she puffed off to get her own coaches.

Rinko and the Park Controller, along with an inspector, checked the little miniature engine all over, but found nothing wrong.

"She's good to go sir," said the Inspector.

With that said, Rose was taken over to the coach yards where she was to collect her coaches. They were all shining with lovely new paintwork and were eager to start work. Rose however was not eager, she was still nervous - she was so nervous that she went too fast and bumped the coaches.

"Uh oh, that's going to make a big bang," groaned Rinko.

She was right. The coaches rattled along down the siding and went bashing into the bumper post at the end of the siding with a big bang. "Yikes!" cried Rose and nearly jumped off the rails.

"Oi, careful there Rinko!" called the Park Controller, "we don't want to damage the coaches!"

"Sorry sir, we didn't mean to do that!" Rinko called back. She then turned her attention back to Rose, "why did you speed up Rose? We weren't suppose to bump the coaches."

"I'm sorry ma'am, I just got nervous."

"Well try to calm yourself down before it gets out of control - oh and please don't call me 'ma'am', I prefer it when people and engines call me by my name."

Thankfully the coaches hadn't suffered too much damage when they bumped into the bumper post, so Rose was able to couple up to them and take them to the gate. They were cross though, "you're lucky that you're a newbie on this railway," they said angerily, "otherwise we'd really give you a piece of our minds."

"You do and I will give you a piece of _my_ mind," Rinko the Driver said firmly, "and trust me, it won't be pretty."

Rinko was only bluffing, but the coaches didn't know that and reminded respectfully silent.

During the runs to the front gates, Rose took in the time to look around at the scenery. She thought it all looked wonderful and at one point, she thought it looked like alot of fun. Her attitude soon changed though when she reached the front gates. In spite of Kayio collecting the first set of visitors, there was still a long line up of visitors, many of which were there just to see her.

Rose looked at them nervously and started to shake voilently.

"Hey whoa Rose, calm down girl!" cried Rinko the Driver, "there's nothing wrong with you, so you shouldn't be shaking."

"I'm sorry ma'am...uh, Rinko, I just got nervous again."

"It's alright Rose, just try to calm yourself down. We don't want a repeat performance of what happened in the coach yards."

Thankfully they didn't. Rose backed her coaches into the siding and stopped with inches away from the bumper post. She then tried to calm herself down, but Rose found it was impossible when the visitors finally came into the park and started fussing over her and taking multiple pictures of her. She looked all around, wondering of what to say or do.

Sia and Nerine were visiting the park on this day for a little bit of fun and from where they were standing, they could see the nervous look on her face, even with the crowds surronding her.

"She sure looks nervous," Nerine was saying to Sia, "and this huge crowd certainly aren't helping matters."

Sia was quick to agree with Nerine. Meanwhile, the visitors continued to surrond Rose and fuss over her, that was until Rinko shooed them away to the coaches.

The passengers boarded the coaches, a guard blew his whistle, waved his flag and Rose puffed away with the passenger carriages. "Never mind girl, a good run is just what you need to calm yourself down," Rinko said kindly to her.

I'm sorry to say that Rinko was going to be proven wrong. There were dozens of people waiting by the line-side, all waiting to take their photographs and videos of Rose and at each stop, the passengers that had been on her train got off and surronded her, getting more photographs of her. At each stop, Rose got more and more nervous and more often than enough, she would shake.

"Is there something wrong with your engine?" some of the visitors asked Rinko.

And she would have to answer, "she's just a little bit nervous."

From their seats, Nerine and Sia could tell that it was only a matter of time before Rose would have a nervous meltdown and their suspicions were going to be proven correct.

As they came round the first bend, Rose found herself being surronded by a large crowd of people and their cameras. It was all too much for the poor engine, she screamed loudly and then suddenly stopped right on the main line.

"Come on Rose, we have to keep moving," said Rinko, "we can't let the passengers down."

"I'm not moving!" snapped Rose, "not until all these people go away!"

The passengers and Rinko tried to get Rose to move again, but nothing they tried worked. Rose refused to move and she wouldn't speak to anyone either. In the end, the Park Controller had to send Gary to take Rose back to the sheds and asked Michelle to take her passengers on the rest of their trip.

The Park Controller and Maggie, who had been called upon from the yards of the Little Tokyo Railroad, were waiting at the sheds when the two engines arrived.

"What happened back there Rinko?" the Park Controller asked.

"She got too nervous and then she suddenly stopped right in the middle of the line," she answered.

Maggie looked at Rose with a confused look, "I can't understand how the heck that's possible," she said. "She wasn't nervous when we were building her from the ground up, if anything, she was interested in talking."

"I'm just nervous that's all," groaned Rose.

"Hmm, this is one of the strangest things I've ever heard happen and I've heard plenty of strange things believe me."

"Well I believe you," said the Park Controller. He then turned to Rose, "maybe it wasn't the right time to have you work on the passenger trains Rose. Once you've calmed down, you can take the supply train."

"But what about her passenger train sir?" asked Rinko.

"Gary will have to take the passengers," the Park Controller answered. "We can't have Rose suddenly stop on the main line, especially with passengers on board her train - that just won't do on a railway." He then turned and left. Maggie and Rinko left shortly after that, leaving Rose feeling that she had let everyone down.

_**Monkey Around**_

After her disasterious first run, nobody seemed to pay any attention to Rose at all as she passed by with the Supply Train. Those who did notice her only said, "oh there's the engine that doesn't want to work." It hurt Rose's feelings badly, but she couldn't blame the people - and it wasn't just because she was too nervous to do that.

Karen could see this and felt sorry for the little engine, "I know how she feels," she said to her Driver, "I was in the same position not too long ago. It's not a very nice feeling of being ignored."

"Indeed not," agreed her Driver, "and if I remember what happened correctly, you were thinking of retiring."

"Perhaps, but I saw sense afterwords. Besides, there's a difference between myself and Rose, I had originally wanted to be retired where as she wants to continue working, it's just that her nervousness is getting the better of her."

"Well someday she will get past that feeling of nervousness and become a really useful engine."

Karen hoped so too as she pulled up to the front gates. The Park Railway has had it's history of the unusual coming into the park, from clowns to tall people and even animals coming into the park. Dogs and Cats are normal, but sometimes there are moments when other animals come into the park when they shouldn't be.

Karen was backing up to the pillar and was just coming to a stop when she suddenly heard a strange screeching sound.

"What in the firebox is that?" she asked in surprise.

"It's not your firebox girl, it's something else," said her Driver as he looked back. "There's a man with a cowboy hat and a woman coming on board...with a monkey in her arms."

"Say what now?" Karen asked in surprise. "Did you just say a monkey?"

"That's right, I said a monkey," he answered.

Karen's Driver was quite right, the woman had a monkey in her arms, dressed in a red shirt and had blue overalls on. It was the monkey himself that made that sound.

"Since when can a monkey get into our park?" Karen asked, "I thought there were rules."

"There are rules Karen, but I guess it's okay for the monkey to come into the park and ride on our train."

"Well okay," Karen muttered, "as long as it doesn't do any monkey business back there."

When all the passengers had boarded the coaches, the guard's whistle sounded and Karen pulled smoothly away from the gate. The journey, although a smooth one, was anything but peaceful. The monkey just would not calm down, he screeched loudly and tried to jump off the train.

"Calm down little buckaroo, we'll soon be at the game section," the woman said kindly to him.

The monkey however would not calm down, he continued to act like...well, a monkey and made alot of noise. At last, they reached the game section, "why was your monkey making so much noise back there?" the Driver asked the woman.

"It's because he doesn't know the park that well, but he'll calm down now, especially with his father and me here."

"His father, you mean you got two monkeys?" Karen asked.

The woman looked at Karen angerily, "of course not, my husband's the one with the cowboy hat and this is our son, our little buckaroo."

Karen could not believe what she had just heard, "but ma'am, with all due respect, that's not a child, it's a monkey for goodness sakes."

"You're such a rude engine," snapped the woman crossly. "He's just judging our son because of his looks and the way he acts."

The husband was able to calm the woman down, then they walked away. "I said with all due respect," Karen said to her Driver. "There was no reason for her to snap like that, I was only telling her the truth."

"I know that Karen, but sometimes people like her don't like hearing things like that."

"Well personally I have a name for people like them," she said, just as her guard blew the whistle, "and that is...Crazy." She sounded off her whistle and puffed away from the gaming section.

A little later, Karen was puffing past Rose again. She wanted to whistle a cheerful greeting to the new engine when suddenly, she and her Driver got a call on the mobile phone, "hello?" answered the Driver.

"I need you to bring Karen and the coaches back here, we have a bit of a situation," said the Park Controller on the other end.

"What kind of situation?"

"Well you might not believe me, but..." he paused, sounding like he didn't believe what he was going to say, "there's a monkey going wild in one of the game sections of the park."

"A monkey huh?" Karen asked with a raised eyebrow. She could hear the whole conversation, "I wonder if it's little Buckaroo."

"The monkey's now gotten out of control and so two animal relocation specialists have been called in to due with it," continued the Park Controller. "The others are busy, so we need you and Karen to take them."

"We're on our way sir," said the Driver.

They puffed on their way and soon reached the front gates. The passengers got off while the two animal relocation specialists climbed into the train with their gear. The Park Controller was at the gates, explaining the whole situation to the waiting visitors, "this train is needed on a special assignment," he said, "another train will come later to take you all to where you want to go."

Many people in the crowd were disappointed to hear they weren't going in just yet. Primula, who was with Kaede, was disappointed too.

"Good luck Karen!" Kaede called to her, "and be careful!"

"We will!" Karen called and with a blast of her whistle, they set off towards the gaming section.

They soon arrived and found the woman's husband waiting there, "listen, I'm sorry to have wasted your time, but..."

He was suddenly interupted by the woman, "you are not taking our son away, so please leave now," she said rudely.

"Ma'am, we're not leaving," said the leader of the group, who went by the nickname 'T'. "Monkeys are not children, they can be dangerous at times and from we heard, it's out of control."

"That's only because he doesn't know all these people, we can handle it."

"Oh really?" Karen asked with another raised eyebrow, "then where is your 'son' as you call him?"

The woman was about to answer when suddenly they heard a lot of noise coming from inside the game section, "sorry ma'am, but we have to take him to the sanctuary," said 'T'. "He could hurt others. Come on 'C', bring the gear and let's go."

Despite the woman and her husband arguing aganist the two specialists, they got their gear out and went into the game section. The man nicknamed 'C', had a silver object in his hand.

"Don't shoot him please!" pleaded the woman.

"Relax lady, this won't hurt him, we're just going to put him to sleep so we can get him into a cage and out of the park."

"No please!" she pleaded again.

They soon found the monkey, he was tossing things all over place. "Okay little buckaroo, calm down," said 'T'. "We're not here to hurt you, we just..." but he didn't finish as he saw the monkey pick up a bottle and drink it. "What the...what is he drinking?"

"His cough syrup," the woman answered, "he has a bit of a cough."

"Cough syrup, are you crazy?" shouted 'T' in surprise. " 'C', we can't put him to sleep now, put it away."

His partner 'C' did as he was told, "chimps and cough syrup don't mix and I never thought I hear myself say that."

'T' tried to calm the monkey down, but it did no good. The monkey was still going out of control by throwing things around, then suddenly he took off running, "hey, where did he go? Where did he go?" 'T' asked.

"I don't know man, he was just a furry blur," answered 'C'.

'T' walked around and checked around the stalls. It was easier for him considering most of the visitors had run out when the monkey started going out of control. He looked around and soon heard the monkey. He checked a stall, but quickly backed off, "he's got a gun! Who's stall is that?"

"Mine," said one of the stall owners, "it's for protection."

"Is it loaded?"

"I don't know."

"Oh come on," groaned 'T'. "We now need a new way of calming him down - what's his favourite food?" he asked the couple.

"Cheese puffs," the woman answered, "he loves them."

"Well who wouldn't?" 'C' asked with a quiet chuckle.

"Alright 'C', get the pole with the camera and we'll a basket up with cheese puffs, hopefully the monkey will go for them and drop that gun." They had to work fast.

'T' and the woman's husband grabbed some cheese puffs from a nearby stall and quickly filled up a basket. 'C' returned with the pole and a small screen, "Alright man, you hold onto the screen, but stay back, I don't want you in the line of fire."

So while 'C' stood close by with the screen, 'T' held out the pole with the cheese puffs until it was in the monkey's view.

"Oh yeah, he's still got the gun pointed right at us," said 'T'. "No wait hold on, he's dropping it." He was right, the monkey saw the cheese puffs and quickly dropped the object, then reached up for the cheese puffs. 'T' moved the pole, making the monkey climb over the stall's counter and following him to an open area away from the stalls.

"It's working man," said 'T'.

"Well of course it is, we're using cheese puffs after all," chuckled 'C'.

'T' chuckled quietly, then he reached down and picked up the monkey, "it's okay little Buckaroo, you're in good hands now." He then turned to the couple, "this is goodbye guys."

"No don't take my son."

"Ma'am, he's not a child or a rubbish can, he's a monkey and needs to be in his own habitat."

Unknown to his partner, 'C' grabbed some of the cheese puffs and ate them. He then followed 'T' to the train, "you can visit him anytime you want," said 'C', "but he can't go home with you."

The woman broke down in tears while the husband shouted. Karen then took the specialists and the monkey back to the front gates.

Later that night, she returned to the sheds and found the other engines waiting for her. She told them everything that had happened that day. "I'll say this much, that monkey sure lived up to the term 'Monkey around'," she chuckled after a while.

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by a real life event where two animal relocation specialists were called upon to deal with an out of control monkey, who had also drank cough syrup. The monkey had also picked up a gun, but nobody knew it was loaded. The solution to the problem was to hold out a small bowl of cheese puffs and get the monkey to drop the gun. It worked and the monkey was taken away from the owners.

_**Rose and the Bully**_

The Park Controller, the engines, the railway staff and even Rinko the Driver tried all sorts of tricks, but nothing they did seemed to work. Rose's nervousness got worse as time wore on and soon, she would refuse to pull passenger trains, mostly because she was too scared and all too soon, her voice disappeared.

"I can't understand it at all sir," Rinko said to the Park Controller, "I would've thought she would've gotten used to life here at the park by now."

"So did I," sighed the Park Controller, "but instead, it's just made things worse. If this keeps up, we'll have no choice but to send Rose away and bring in a new engine to work in her place."

Rinko was sad to hear this and so were the other engines when they found out, "it'd be a shame to see our latest addition to the family suddenly disappear from our lives forever," sighed Karen.

"Yes it would sad Karen," agreed her Driver, "and I'll admit it's not something we ever want to see, but ultimately it's up to Rose if she wants to stay or not."

"The line just wouldn't be the same without her," said Michelle.

At that moment, Darren the Tractor chugged up to the sheds. He had heard about the Park Controller's recent discussion and couldn't help but laugh upon the situation.

"So you're latest toy is going to be sent away huh? Well I say good ridence to her, now if I could only see the end of you lot just as easily."

Karen wheesed steam crossly, "it'll be a cold day in July before you see the end of us Darren," she snapped crossly. "Also, just so we are clear, Rose is not going anywhere. The Park Controller's going to be giving her some more chances to prove herself."

"A complete waste of time if you ask me, she'll never be able to prove herself."

"Well no one was asking you!"

Kayio piped up before the situation could get out of control, "Rose will prove herself as many other engines have done so in similar situations in the past. Now stop making a scene and go back to doing your work Darren."

Darren just sniffed and chugged away, coughing and clanking as he went.

"He's such a rude tractor," Kayio said to the others. "He's just as rude as the Little Tokyo's Shamus before he was taken out of service."

"Well hopefully he'll get his just desserts one of these days," said Karen, "and I hope it's in my view."

"Stow it Karen," snapped her Driver firmly. Karen was about to ask why her Driver would say that, but she had no need to do that. In her quiet corner of the shed, Rose had shedded a tear from her right eye and was sobbing. Very wisely, none of the engines said a single word throughout the rest of the evening.

The Amusement Park has lots of attractions, but the most popular attraction has to be the Petting Zoo. It is here where people can get up close and personal with the animals and can either pat them or feed them food. There is also an area of the park where people can ride some of the animals. The Horse rides proved quite popular, but there was one animal very few people wanted to ride.

Over a year ago, a bull had been working at a farm on the outskirts of the city, but the farmers ran into financial problems and sold the bull to the Amusement Park where it's been living ever since.

The bull, who was nicknamed 'The Bully', didn't mind having people come around to see him, especially if they brought him food, but he didn't like the noises the engines or even Darren the Rude Tractor made as they passed.

Darren didn't help matters either. Whenever he saw the bull, he would tease him with every opportunity he got, "you act tough, but you're no match to a smart working tractor like me. Yeah that's right, I'm talking to you silly bully."

The bull growled crossly and rammed it's head into the gate, but the gate didn't move.

"Stupid animal," Darren chuckled.

"Quit making him mad Darren," his Driver said firmly to him. "Bulls are tough creatures and if you make that one angry enough, he'll break that fence and then you'll be in trouble."

"Yeah right," Darren sniffed, "that'll never happen. The stupid animal can't do anything except eat and make noises."

He laughed over his own wit, but he wouldn't be laughing for too long.

The following next afternoon, Darren was taking food over to the petting zoo. He saw Bully the Bull standing in his pan, "well, well, well, if it isn't the silly old bull. Another waste of space in this park, he's not worth anything." To make the situation worse, Darren pulled some faces in front of Bully the Bull.

"Stop that Darren or you'll be..."

Suddenly, there came a crashing sound, which was followed by some screams. Darren's Driver looked over to the stalls and saw that the bull had gotten out and he was furious. "Now you've done it," he said angerily.

The Bull looked over to Darren, snarled crossly and then charged at the tractor. Darren's Driver, very wisely, jumped off and tractor and ran to safety. Darren was still smirking, but not for too long. The bull bumped into Darren, then using it's strength and it's horns, Bully pushed Darren over onto his side.

"YIIIKKKEES!" Darren cried as he hit the ground with a huge thud.

The bull looked around at it's surrondings, then it charged away. Darren's Driver ran over to his Tractor to check for damage. There wasn't much damage, but Darren was in shock of what happened.

"I told you that you would get into trouble one day if you angered that bull," his Driver said firmly. "Now thanks to you, it's running wild."

The bull ran down the lane, making people run to safety and to get out of it's way. Then it turned towards the engine sheds where Karen, Michelle and Rose were all being looked over.

"Is that what I think it is?" Karen gulped.

"If you're thinking it's a bull, then yes it is what you're thinking of," Michelle said nervously.

The Bull looked at the engines, snarled crossly and prepared to charge. Karen and Michelle looked scared and so did the workers and their crews. They ran quickly out of the sheds and ran to safety, "one charge from that bull and we're really in trouble," said Karen's Driver.

"What about our engines?" Michelle's Driver asked, "they're going to be in real trouble if that bull charges."

Bully the Bull kicked his hooves and prepared to charge. From her spot in the shed, Rose could see the look on the other two engine's faces, but instead of getting scared, she did something quite surprising...

"Hey Bull, get away from my friends!" she shouted.

Everyone looked to see a firm determined look upon Rose's face, "I will not allow you to harm my friends! Now get back you animal!" She then spoke to Rinko, "make me blow some steam and open my regulator."

Rinko had stayed with her engine, even after the other crew members left, so she was able to fulfil Rose's request. She turned some valves and soon Rose was hissing steam firmly and moving forwards towards the bull. The bull stood his ground at first, but it soon started to back up.

The bull's owners arrived, "That's it, back him out and we'll get him under control!" they shouted.

"Get back Bull! Back!" Rose said firmly. "Shoo now! Get out of our yard!"

"I don't believe it," gasped Karen, "Rose is saving us from that bull. Where was that kind of attitude when she first arrived?"

"Keep backing up bull! That's it, get back!" Rose said firmly and continued with the wheesing steam.

The Bull continued to back up, that was until it was finally outside the yards. The owners quickly got a lasso around it's horns and using food, they were able to calm it down and lead it back to the petting zoo area. Since his area had been destoryed, they placed him into another pan with a firm metal fence.

"We got him safely in another pan now," called one of the workers, "he won't be getting out anytime soon."

People sighed with relief and so did Michelle and Karen. "Thank you Rose, if it hadn't been for you, that bull could've done some serious damage to our yards and to us as well," said Karen.

Rose looked at them with a confused look, "I did that?"

"Yes you did," Michelle answered, "you stood up to that bull and forced it out of our yards."

"That was brave of you Rose," added Rinko the Driver, "I'm sure the Park Controller would say the same thing if he knew."

"Oh but I already know," said a well known voice. At that moment, Eric pulled up with the passenger train and riding on board the train in the first coach was the Park Controller. "I got a call earlier that a bull had escaped and I came down here to help calm it down, but I can see it's already been taken care of."

"You should've seen it sir," said Karen. "Rose was just amazing, she stared that bull right in the eye and forced it out of our yards."

"I wish I did see it," smiled the Park Controller. He then looked down to Rose, "I'm very pleased with you Rose, you overcame your own nervousness and helped others at the same time. I know you might still be nervous, but I think that if you keep this up, you'll became a very reliable and helpful engine."

Rose was silent for a few moments, then finally she responded back by saying, "I'll do my very best sir."

After that day, Rose has been living up to her promise. While she might still be nervous at times, she gives it all she's got and doesn't give up till the job is done. The Park Controller is pleased with her and nowadays, she can be seen on the front of a passenger train and even taking the time to make new friends. I bet that with a little more practice and some time, she will become a really useful engine. Don't you think so?

Now, I bet you're wondering about Darren right? Well, he was repaired and put back in service, but he has learned never to tease the animals ever again, especially a big bull named Bully, who gave him a new view on animals.

_**The End!**_


	36. Tokyo Museum Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 36**_

_**Tokyo Museum Engines**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Recently, I heard that there's a brand new Railway museum that had just opened up in the City of Tokyo. I went down there and sure enough, there was the big building with several engines and rolling stock inside the place. I met with the owner of the museum and he told me, "we might not have alot to show for now, but given some time, we will fill our museum with engines and rolling stock that have sadly been left to rot away." He was a kind man and even took the time to tell me about the engine's arrivals and some of the problems faced before the Grand Opening. The stories he told me were so good that I couldn't keep them to myself and so my friends, here are the tales of those Tokyo Museum Engines._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Little Tokyo Engines: Museum Pieces?

-Never a Dull Moment

-Michael's Big Load

-Brad Says Too Much

-The Late Arrival

_**Little Tokyo Engines: Museum Pieces?**_

Lots of work had been done following the Tokyo Terror's Rein of Terror and the city was looking brand new once again. Rex and Tex the Commuter Engines were finally up and running along their line, taking visitors from one destination to another.

Tex, who was at the back, looked at their new line and the scenery all around them.

"It's beautiful, that's the only thing that's coming to my little old mind," he said.

"Old Mind?" chuckled Rex, "you're not that old Tex." Both commuter engines chuckled as they continued down their line. As they rolled along, Rex noticed a set of tracks heading to a very big building. "I wonder what that building is for," he said out loud.

"Maybe it's a goods warehouse," suggested Tex.

"Another one?" Rex asked with a confused look, "this railway already has a big warehouse and I do mean 'Big'."

The two commuter engines were most puzzled about this and asked their Driver. Even he had to admit that he didn't know what the building was for.

Late that evening, the two commuter engines told the other engines about the big building.

"If it's not a warehouse, then what could it be?" Tex asked curiously.

"It's going to be a museum," James answered. All eyes peered over towards him, "my fireman Gilbert heard about it not too long ago and I personally delivered plenty of supplies to that building following the end of the Rein of Terror days."

"But it can't be a museum," said Courtney, "Tokyo's already got a very big museum."

"Did we forget to mention that it had several lines leading into the building?" added Rex.

"Yeah you kinda failed to mention that earlier," said Li.

"So then it must be a railroad museum," said Nina. Then a horrible thought struck her, "you don't think the Man in the Suit wants to retire us from active duty and put us inside that museum do you?"

"I doubt he would," answered Luke, "he's more interested in saving old engines and giving them a second chance."

"People can change you know," said a young female voice.

The voice was coming from Maggie, "What are you doing here Maggie?" Li asked firmly and with a raised eyebrow, "you're not still after poor Yoshida are you?"

Maggie growled when she heard the name. Nina cut in very quickly, "Maggie, what did you mean by people can change?"

"It can happen Nina, I've seen it with my own two eyes."

"You refering to what happened back on the Other Railway?" James asked.

"You bet I am," she answered. "When the original controller retired, another came in to take his place and he promised never to scrap a engine. What tall tales he told?"

"Why?" Nina asked nervously.

"Less than two months after he came to the railway, he sold off one of his old diesels off for scrap. Thankfully the diesel was saved and given another chance by someone else. But if no one had come to save him, he could've ended up in the scrap heap."

Luke shivered when he heard the words that came out of Maggie's mouth.

"So it just goes to show you, people can change and who knows, the Man in the Suit may want to retire you lot from active duty and use modern engines instead."

Big Mac, Luke and James didn't seem to believe Maggie, but sadly the other engines did and now they were worried.

Next afternoon, Laura was rattling along the main line with a goods train, but she was moving slowly and she wasn't in much of a talking mood. Her Driver noticed this and was concerned, "what's the matter with you Laura?" he asked, "you act as though something bad has happened."

"No it's not that, something's just on my mind."

"Oh? Care to tell me about it my dear engine?"

"Well Jim, we're worried about that railway museum. We know it's a place where old engines go when they're no longer useful and well..."

"You're thinking that you're going to be put inside the museum right?"

"Yes Jim, many of us believe that," and she told Jim of what Maggie had said the night before.

"Oh what a silly engine you are, the Man in the Suit isn't planning on putting you lot in a museum, you're far too useful for that."

"But then, if we're not going in there, who is?"

"Just wait till tonight girl," her Driver chuckled, "the owner of the museum will tell you everything."

The sun was setting for another day by the time Laura returned to the sheds. The other engines were all there and so was Yoshida and Kaede. Yoshida was still worried about Maggie showing up out of nowhere, so she asked Kaede to come along, just in case.

"I bet you the Man in the Suit is going to say we're going in the museum real soon," sighed Li unhappily.

"I don't think that's going to be happening Li," said Big Mac, "you shouldn't believe what Maggie said last night."

"But what if she is right?"

"Well she isn't this time," said a well known voice. The engines, crew and the two girls looked to the doorway and saw the Man in the Suit standing there and with another man standing behind him. He looked to be a couple of years older than Kaede and Yoshida and wore regular clothing instead of a fancy suit.

"I know you engines are probably wondering if you're going to be put inside the museum, but you can rest easy in knowing that you are not going in there," continued the Man in the Suit. "As Jim said to Laura earlier, you're far too useful to become museum pieces."

"Well that's a relief," sighed Courtney.

"But sir, if we're not going to be the museum engines, who is going in there?" Nina asked.

The Man in the Suit smiled and stepped to a side, "I'll let the owner tell you this himself."

When Kaede saw the man, her face went bright red and her mouth opened wide. The man just smiled and stepped forward to address the engines, "good evening all of you engines, it's an honor to meet you all at last. I've heard a great deal about you from everyone in the city."

"He certainly knows how to speak to engines," Nina thought to herself.

"My name is Matthew Gagnon," the man continued, "and as your Controller, the Man in the Suit just said, I am the Tokyo Railroading museum's owner."

"It's an honor to meet you," Kaede blurted out.

Matthew looked over towards Kaede, "and it's an honor to meet you as well," he said kindly. Kaede went into a deeper shade of red, which made Yoshida wonder if Kaede was coming down with something.

Big Mac though knew otherwise, but felt it best not to say anything.

"Now, as the Man in the Suit has just told you, you are not going to be museum pieces for the Tokyo Railroading museum," Matthew continued. "No, what will be going inside the museum are engines and rolling stock that have been left out in the elements to rot away. The goal of the museum is to preserve all these wonderful pieces of history so that future generations can see them with their own eyes, instead of seeing them in books."

"As a matter of fact, we have already began doing just that. Four engines have recently been bought and will be brought to Tokyo over a course of days, or weeks, it depends on what the weather is like."

The engines were quite relieved over the news and excited too.

"Two of those engines can run under their own power, but the other two, although restored," Matthew continued, "Can not operate. So when they arrive, I would actually like to ask for your help engines."

"Oh of course sir, we'd be glad to help," smiled Li.

"Yes indeed," agreed Courtney, "we'd be honored to help and make some new friends too."

"That's good to hear," Matthew smiled. Just before he was ready to leave, he turned to Kaede and Yoshida, "what are your names?" he asked kindly.

"I'm Yoshida and this is my friend Kaede Fuyou."

Kaede opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"She's not usually shy when talking," said Yoshida. "Usually it's me who doesn't speak that much."

"Ah that's okay, I'm sure she and I will get a chance to talk someday soon," he then said good bye to the engines and thanked the Man in the Suit for inviting him to the yards, then he turned and left.

"I wonder what the first four museum engines are going to be like," said Courtney out loud.

"Well I guess we'll find out soon enough," said Li.

"I think that Matthew Gagnon is a very nice man," added Nina, "and I think these engines will be under great care with him."

"Yes he is a very nice man," said Kaede out loud. All eyes seemed to look at her, "well I'm just agreeing with you," she said hastily. "Come on Yoshida, I'll walk you home."

Big Mac just smiled as he watched the two left, "yeah, it's just as I thought," but he thought it only to himself.

_**Never a Dull Moment**_

A few days later, the first of the museum engines arrived. It was a black tender engine with the words 'Frisco' underneath it's cab windows and a set of numbers on both sides of it's tender '1355'. It looked like it had just come out of a factory, but even though it looked new, it couldn't move under it's own power anymore.

Li was the only engine available, so he was sent to collect the engine at the docks.

"A worthless waste if it can't work," Rick said rudely. "Then again, you engines are all worthless junk."

"You want to see worthless, why don't you look in the water and you'll see a true piece of worthless junk," Li called cheekily. Rick snapped crossly as Li buffered up behind the Frisco steam engine.

"Is your friend always like that?" she asked kindly.

"He's no friend to any of us," Li answered, "but yeah, he is always like that. I don't think you'll need to worry him if you're going to that museum."

"Yes, that's where I'm heading," said the Frisco Engine. "I'm one of their engines, my name is Kimberly, what's yours?"

"My buds all call me 'Li'," answered Li.

"Well it's nice to meet you Li."

Before leaving, two members of the Museum crew had to do an inspection of their first engine to make sure everything was in place. Then they climbed into the cab to help keep the brakes off.

"We're good to go," they said and gave Li's crew two thumbs up.

Li's Driver responded by blowing the whistle, and slowly, wheel turn by wheel turn, Li pushed the Frisco Steam Engine away from the docks. They made good timing as they rattled along the line and even surprised a few people with the sight of a tender engine being pushed by a tank engine. Soon however, they were diverted off the main line and into a siding.

"What's going on?" Li asked, "why are we in the siding?"

The Driver used his mobile phone and soon got the answer to Li's question, "there are a couple of goods trains due to come down the line, so we're to wait until they pass."

"Oh well," sighed Kimberly, "at least this gives us time to talk."

"Yeah I guess so," Li said with a smile.

While they waited, Kimberly told Li and his crew about her days on the Frisco Railroad. They listened to her every word with great interest, then Kimberly told them of how she escaped the scrap yards.

"I was happy after I was saved from that horrible place," Kimberly was saying afterwords, "but I was still sad cause I knew I'd never be able to work again."

"I'd be sad too if I couldn't work again," Li sighed quietly.

"Over time though, I learned to get used to my retired life," Kimberly continued as Big Mac came into view with his goods train. "Plus I was never alone as there was always someone coming into the park I was at. They would come either to look at a real steam engine or to hear tales of the good old days."

"That sounds nice," said Li's Driver, "at least you're not forgotten."

"Yeah, but being a retired engine doesn't sound exciting to me," said Li. "I mean, you can't move, you can't work, all you do is sit there looking pretty. No offence Kimberly, but it sounds kinda dull to me."

Kimberly smiled and gave off a quiet chuckle, "you couldn't be further from the truth Li," said Kimberly. "Even for retired engines, there's never a dull moment."

"What do you mean by that?"

Kimberly looked down the tracks, there was no sign of the other goods train. "Well since we have plenty of time before that next train comes, I'll tell you what I mean."

And so, Kimberly began to tell her story.

It was a normal peaceful day with the sun shining brightly, there were no clouds in the sky and there was a cool breeze blowing every now and then. There was very little activity going on in the park, so Kimberly used the quiet time to have a little snooze.

As she slept, she felt something moving around inside of her cab. "Huh...what? Oh, it must be one of the park animals," she said sleepily.

She dozed off again. When she next woke, she heard sirens coming towards the park. Moments later, several police cars arrived at the park, "I wonder what's going on," Kimberly thought to herself.

The police officers got out of their cars and walked towards the tender, "alright mister, come on down from there," said one of the officers. "You're not suppose to be up there!"

"Forget it!" shouted a male voice, "I'm not coming down from here and you can't make me!"

Kimberly gasped, for standing on the back end of her tender was no animal - it was an adult man. He had somehow managed to jump over the fence, climbed into the cab and was now standing on the back end of the tender. The police asked the man several times to get down from the tender, but it did no good.

"I guess talking's not going to do at all," sighed one of the officers, "I guess we'll have to go in there and get him."

Using a foot-stool that one of the officer's had in the trunk of his car, the officers were able to climb over the fence and walk over towards Kimberly's cab. One officer climbed into the cab and walked into the coal bunker, but then he backed away, "he's got a gun!" he shouted to the other officers, "it's small but..."

"But small guns can still hurt others," added another officer.

"Well then, I guess we only have one option left, blind him, then tackle him."

The other officers agreed and they went to make their plan with some other officers. Kimberly wasn't sure of what was going on or what the officers were going to do, but she would soon find out.

Two officers stood outside of Kimberly's cab, just out of viewing range of the gun-man, while another officer walked over to where the one officer was trying to get the man to climb down from the tender.

"Cover your eyes buddy, this is going to be bright," advised the one officer.

He tossed something towards Kimberly's tender - then there was a loud bang and a bright flash of light could be seen. "AHH!" cried the man, "I can't see!"

The two officers that had been waiting near the cab, ran to the tender, climbed up the ladder and tackled the man down.

Despite having been blinded, the man was still able to put up a fight aganist the officers. It was useless to so though as they soon had him cuffed and brought down from the tender.

"You're under arrest sir," the officers said to the man. "For trespassing on private properly, the misuse of a fire-arm and for distrubing the peace."

"You can say that again," Kimberly muttered before letting out a big yawn and going off to sleep.

"So Li, that little incident just proves to you that even for a retired engine, there really never is a dull moment," Kimberly concluded.

"Yeah I guess you're right Kimberly," he said, just as Laura's goods train came into view. Li and Kimberly watched as Laura rattled past, then after the points had been changed to their line, they set off towards the museum.

**Author's Note:**

This story is based on the actual real life event that occured in a city park on the tender of Frisco 1355. A man had climbed onto the back of the tender and had a weapon with him. The police tried talking to him, but he wouldn't listen to them. So they used a flash-bang grenade to blind the man long enough so they could get him and remove him from the locomotive's tender.

_**Michael's Big Load**_

A few days after Kimberly arrived, the first of the two british engines arrived at the harbour. This engine was named Michael, a class 47 diesel engine painted in the very blue paintjob that the Other Railway once had. He wasn't needed at the museum at the moment, due to the work that needed to be finished there, so he was on loaned to the Little Tokyo Railroad to help with the increasing workloads.

He often took the goods trains, giving the engines like Nina and Big Mac a chance to haul the passenger trains.

The engines were pleased to have him help out and quickly grew a liking to him. "And so, when my engine finally gave out, I was sent to the scrapyards," Michael said one evening, "there were lots of other engines all sitting there, all awaiting their final end at the flame of the dreaded gas axe. I was very afraid."

"I know the feeling," Nina muttered and shuddered, remembering her escape from the scrapyards.

"One by one, the engines were dismentaled and soon, it was my turn. I shut my eyes and awaited my end, but then there came some shouting. I opened my eyes and saw the owner of the museum, Mr Matthew Gagnon, running up with the scrapyard manager. He said to the scrapper that he had just bought me for his museum."

"He wasn't too pleased and it resulted in an argument," Michael continued, "but in the end, Matthew won the battle and I was moved out of the smelter's yard by one of the modern diesels."

"Lucky you," Li smiled.

"Indeed," agreed Michael. "He then sent me to a works where I was given a complete overhaul and repainted. I was pleased with the finished results and felt like a new engine."

"It's a shame though you'll be put in a museum," said Tex from his spot of the shed, "all that strength going to waste."

"Tex!" snapped Rex firmly.

Michael just smiled, "actually Tex, I won't be stuck in a museum forever. According to Matthew, I'm going to be one of the museum pieces that can go out once and a while and help out on any railroad, just like I am now."

"Well that's good to hear, at least your strength isn't going to waste."

"Hush up!" snapped Rex. Tex often spoke his mind and sometimes didn't know when he had gone too far with what he said.

"Sorry," Tex said quietly and went silent throughout the rest of the night.

The next day was busy as more ships arrived at the harbour and tonnes of goods were loaded up into the trucks. There was so much work that Rick was getting busy and nearly hit Li with some goods, "Watch where you're swinging those crates Rick!" he shouted. "I already got banged up by the Terror Queen, I don't need to be banged up by you!"

"Well excuse me if I'm trying to get everything done around here!" snapped Rick from above. "If you think you can do better, than why don't you come up here?"

"No thank you," chuckled Li.

"Then shut up down there already!"

Li was about to retort back, but at that moment, the guard's whistle blew and they had to go. The Driver opened the regulator and Li puffed away, giving off a cheeky blow of his whistle.

"Stupid tank engine," grumbled Rick.

A little later, Michael arrived at the docks and was surprised to find a long line of vans sitting on a siding. "Where is that old windbag Big Mac?" Rick asked crossly, "he's suppose to take that train!"

"I'm sure Big Mac will be here soon," said Michael, "as far as I know, he's on his way back from the Transfer Point Line."

They waited and waited, but there was no sign of Big Mac. After a long period of time, a worker came up with some important information, "Big Mac's going to be late getting back here," he said. "The High Speed Bullet train is running late and he can't leave till it shows up."

"Oh for crying out loud," groaned Rick. "That's we needed, a delayed train and a dockyard full of goods, what a life!"

"Why don't I take Big Mac's train?" suggested Michael, "I'm suppose to go to the Warehouse District anyways, so I can take the train there myself."

"I don't know," said one of the dock workers, "you're suppose to take a train of your own in a few minutes."

"Well then I guess we'll have to take both trains," said Michael.

The workers weren't enterily too sure about that, but they knew that if they didn't, the docks would really be in a mess in more ways than one. So they agreed and Michael went to work shunting the trucks into one long line. When his trucks were loaded up, Michael took the strain and the Class 47 diesel engine rumbled out of the docks with his train.

"Goods must get through, goods must get through," he said to himself as he dragged the heavy train along.

People were amazed as they had never seen such a long train before on the Little Tokyo. Michael strained and at times, spun his wheels on the rails, but he kept on rolling.

His Driver kept an eye on the engine, he was concerned, "if we keep going like this, you'll most likely blow out your engine."

At one point, the Driver, after calling the Man in the Suit, brought Michael to a stop along the main line to catch his breath. "Now Michael, are you sure you want to keep pulling this megatrain?" his Driver asked, "Cause I can always ask the Man in the Suit to send another..."

"All the other engines are busy, there's no one that can help us," Michael interupted. "We'll just have to take a chance and keep on rolling."

The Driver sighed, "alright Michael, once you've caught your breath, we'll get going, but be careful. If you feel hot and bothered, let me know."

It wasn't long before Michael finally had his breath back and was able to continue on with the train. He struggled to start at first, but once he got going, the journey was much easier.

They soon reached the city line, it was here that they needed to be extra careful. Michael's Driver sounded the horn several times to let people know to stay out of the way.

"We're almost there boy," said the Driver, "just a bit further and we'll be there."

Ken was waiting outside the workshops and was amazed when he saw Michael come in with his megatrain, "okay, that's got to be a new world record right there," he said in amazement, "for the longest goods train on the Little Tokyo."

"Maybe," panted Michael, he was feeling rather tired at that moment.

When he did catch his breath, he shunted all the trucks around the district and then took the empties back to the docks.

Later on, during Sia and Nerine's visit, the Little Tokyo engines and James all told Michael how proud they were of him, "it must've been hard moving all those trucks," said Nina.

"Not really, my brothers and sisters used to haul long trains like that all the time back on the Other Railway," said Michael, "but I will say this, it does tire an engine out."

"Toby would say the same thing," remarked James.

"I'm sorry you had to take my train as well as yours," Big Mac said to Michael, "but that Bullet train was an hour late and I just couldn't leave."

"It's alright Big Mac, I didn't mind the work at all. I'm just glad to have been some help."

"Not bad for a museum piece if you ask me," said Tex. Everyone hushed him and with a gasp, Tex subsided into silence.

_**Brad Says Too Much**_

_**Special Thanks to D.J. Scales for the Story Idea**_

Before the Tokyo Terrors had began their attack on the city, Yoshida had been accused of vandalising James and met Maggie in the worst of ways. Since then, everyone learned of who really vandalised James and Yoshida had been bailed out of jail. She had been regaining her confidence again, but she was still scared about facing Maggie. For reasons she didn't know, the red head had a huge disliking towards Yoshida and said that she would get her again if they ever crossed paths.

Now Yoshida has only two ways of getting into the yards, either with her friends, or to sneak into the yards. Thankfully, the Man in the Suit had told all the workers and engines not to scare her or report her.

One evening, shortly after Michael's megatrain run, Yoshida snuck up to the engine sheds and opened the door slightly. "Is she in there?" she asked quietly.

"No she left an hour ago," Courtney answered.

Yoshida walked slowly into the sheds and looked around. All the engines were in there and so were some of their crews, but Maggie was nowhere to be seen.

"She left for her hotel room an hour ago," said James. "She said something about not getting enough sleep last night and wanted to get to bed early tonight."

"Whew, that's a relief," sighed Yoshida, "I was hoping not to have a run in with her again."

"What brings you to our shed tonight Yoshida?" Li asked kindly, "and all on your own too I might add."

"Well there's something I want to say to all of you. When James, his crew, Karen the Park engine and Maggie..." she paused and shivered just thinking about that girl, "go back to Sodor, I'm going with them."

"For a visit?" Big Mac asked.

"Not quite, I'm going to be moving to Sodor."

"You're moving?" exclaimed the engines in one voice.

"Yes," Yoshida nodded. "Let's face it, I don't really belong in this city and I'm always going to get into trouble, so I'm going to move to Sodor and start a new life there."

"But what about your family?" Courtney asked. "I'm sure they would never allow you to leave without their premission."

"They wouldn't mind at all, they say I'm a disgrace to the family and they say that I can leave anytime I want," she answered sadly. "They even said, 'the sooner you're gone, the less we'll see your pathetic face'."

"How rude," said Tex out loud.

"For once Tex, I agree with you," said James. He then looked down to Yoshida, "Are you sure you want to come to the Island of Sodor with us? I mean, Maggie will be on board the boat and you might have an occassional run in with her."

"Yes James, I'm quite sure with my decision. I know there will be some risks involved, but I'm willing to take them."

"Will you come back to visit us someday?" Nina asked.

"Oh for sure I will, but maybe after I get word that my sister and my two cousins are finally behind bars. It's just too risky with them on the loose." Yoshida said good night to the engines and the crews, then she left.

"Poor girl," said Courtney, "leaving her home just for a better life."

"It doesn't seem fair if you ask me," said Nina. "And that Maggie, she doesn't make things any easier for her. What does she have aganist that sweet little girl?"

"I know the answer to that one," said James. All eyes peered towards him.

"Well spill it out James," said Tex, who was quickly hushed by Rex.

And so, James told everyone of what he knew. When he had finished, the sheds were filled with silence. Nobody knew what to say at that moment, they were surprised and shocked and for the rest of the evening, nothing more was said.

The following next morning, James arrived at the docks with some trucks before going to pick up the old coaches; Ayumi, Nadoka and Layla. As he pulled up, he found the third museum engine standing on one of the lines and in full steam.

This third engine was painted in dark green paint and had the letters G.N.R. on the side of it's tender.

It also had a very big boiler, four front wheels, four driving wheels and two back wheels. Right away, James knew who it was, "of all the engines Mr. Matthew Gagnon had to save, why did he save you Brad?"

"There's a good reason. I am a piece of history and people will come by the dozens to see an engine like myself. After all, we Atlantic engines once pulled express trains on the Great Northern in our glory days and we did it with grand style too. Why, even your own No 4 Gordon was outshined by engines of my class. Yes sir, the C1 atlantic engines were the..."

"Enough already, you're giving me a headache!" James groaned.

"For once, I have to agree with the steaming red piller box!" called Rick from above. "So do us all a favour and shut up!"

James ignored the piller box comment and also told Brad to shut up. Brad took no notice of them and headed out of the dockyards, "next time I see Matthew, I will ask him why he brought Brad here."

James would get his chance soon enough.

He was asked later on to bring down some more supplies for the museum's grand opening. Matthew was waiting outside the building with some workmen to unload James' trucks, "Thank you for bringing these supplies James," he said, "we really needed these."

"Glad to be of some help, but there's something I need to know."

"And what would that be?"

"Why did you buy Brad for your museum? He's a motor mouth and he'll annoy all of your visitors."

Matthew raised an eyebrow when he heard James, he could tell that James had had his own encounter with Brad long before his arrival in Tokyo. "I know Brad can be a pain, but I would never turn my back on an engine in danger."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Brad was about to be scrapped after his old heritage railway closed down. I couldn't allow that and so, I bought him, had him restored and had him shipped here."

"Don't worry though, we here at the museum will do our best to keep him under control," he said.

"Good luck there," James muttered.

The men quickly unloaded the trucks and James puffed away. Matthew helped to bring in the supplies, but he was looking thoughtful during that time, "I only wish I could've saved that purple tank engine. I sure hope he's gone to a good home and not the scrap heap."

At the railway station, the Man in the Suit was talking with Yoshida while looking out for Maggie. "Our engine shed took alot of beating during the Tokyo Terror's Rein of Terror and, while I know you're scared to come into the yards during the day, I would like to ask if you could help us repair the roof Yoshida."

"Well I would love to sir, but what about Maggie? She would burn me to a crisp before letting me help out."

The Man in the Suit looked thoughtful for a moment, then he came up with an idea, "not if you wear a wig and an official uniform," he said. "I can say that you're a mute girl who's kindly giving up some of her time to help repair our sheds."

"Well I guess that could work - do you think Maggie will buy it?"

"Oh I'm sure she will," he smiled. He then lead Yoshida to his office where he had a wig and a spare uniform waiting. His plan would've worked, had it not been for one dark green engine overhearing everything.

A little later, the Man in the Suit walked up to the sheds with Yoshida, in full disguise, behind him. Maggie was helping to do the repair work on the roof, "hello sir," she called, "who is that with you?"

"This is Sonya, a local girl who's kindly giving up her time to help repair our engine sheds."

"Is that true?" she asked, eying the disguised Yoshida.

"She can't answer you with words," said the Man in the Suit. "She's a mute girl."

"Oh okay. Tell me Sonya, have you ever done work like this before?" Yoshida nodded her head, which was true. She had done work similar to roof repairs in the past.

"Well then, climb on up here and we'll get to work."

Yoshida didn't need telling twice, she climbed up the ladder and went straight to work. She and Maggie actually did quite well together, they fixed the roof, layed down tar paper and began laying down the shingles.

"So this is what she is like when she's not angry," Yoshida thought to herself. "Maybe she's not as bad as I thought."

"Well done Sonya, I'm quite impressed with the work you've been doing," Maggie smiled. "If we keep this up, we should have the roof finished before the sun goes down for the day."

James smiled, he knew it was really Yoshida up on the roof with Maggie, but he was just happy to see them getting along so well.

Then Brad arrived, "what's going on up there? Why are they working on the roof? Why don't you answer me James?"

"I would, if you would shut up already," he snapped.

"Now James, is that anyway to speak to another engine?" Maggie called from the roof. James didn't reply. "Hey Sonya, can you get some more shingles for us?"

There was no answer, but someone did climb down from the ladder to get the shingles. "That girl's name is not Sonya," said Brad.

"What?" this time, Maggie looked down and James could almost see her face.

"Don't listen to Brad," said James. "He always tells tall tales and sometimes you can never believe him."

"Like you do sometimes?" Maggie asked with a firm eye on James. James didn't reply back. Maggie looked down to Brad, "now tell me, if she's not Sonya, then who is she?"

"Well I overheard the controller of this railway talking to this girl saying he was going to give her a wig and uniform, and he also said a name. I think it was Yoshida."

"Uh oh," James gulped.

"Yoshida?" snarled Maggie and looked down. Yoshida was now shaking in fear, "so you thought you could hide from me huh? Well guess what, it didn't work."

"Oh no," Yoshida groaned.

"I said that when our paths crossed, I would teach you a lesson you would not forget and I'm going to do just that." She climbed down the ladder quickly and within seconds, she was chasing poor Yoshida around the yards once again. Like last time, she was tossing fireballs right at Yoshida, making her cry for help.

"I didn't like this before and I certainly don't like it now," Yoshida groaned.

"Just shut up!" snapped Maggie, "and quit moving around!"

At that moment, Nina was coming into the yards when she saw what was going on. "Cut that out Maggie!" she snapped, "stop chasing her or I'll..." she got no further as Maggie threw one of her fireballs at Nina's cab. It hit the cab hard and left a small hole.

"Cor blimey, that could've been us," exclaimed the fireman.

Very wisely, Nina didn't shout at Maggie again.

By now, Yoshida was tiring and was hoping that someone would come to her rescue. She didn't notice that she was heading for a pile of manure.

Earlier, a truck had burst open, spilling it's entire load beside the tracks of the engine sheds. Yoshida hadn't noticed this, nor did she notice the rails in front of her. She tripped on one of the rails and fell face first into the manure.

"Yuck," she groaned.

She then heard laughing coming from the many workmen in the yard and Brad. Maggie smirked at the sight, "I was going to hit you with one of my fireballs, but I think this will suit you just fine." She then burst into laughter.

Yoshida was so embarrassed that she got up from the manure and ran away.

"And next time, stay away from the yards!" Maggie called out. She then left to get something to drink.

The Man in the Suit soon arrived and after being told of what happened, he ordered for all the workmen to stop laughing. Brad though, laughed until he cried.

"That was not funny Brad," snapped Nina.

"Says the engine who got her cab burned by a red head," smirked Brad.

"Oh will you be quiet?!" snapped James.

"Hey, I'm not the one who's Driver's daughter is a maniac."

"That's enough Brad!" snapped another voice. This time, it belonged to the Man in the Suit. "I don't want to hear another word out of you today, so please be quiet! Oh and I will be reporting you to Matthew, I'm sure he'll want to have a firm talk with you later on."

Brad gulped and went silent at once.

Later that night at the prison, a lone guard was doing his last rounds of the night before calling it a day. He was pleased that all the prisoners were behaving themselves, well - all except for one.

"Hey Rachel, go to sleep!" he said firmly, "lights are going out in a few minutes."

"No I won't go to sleep - not yet anyways," she smirked.

"And what do you mean by that?" asked the guard. In a moment, he was going to wish he didn't ask that. Using her powers, Rachel fired a strong fireball at the gate and sent the guard flying into another gate. The bars were melted by her powers, which meant now she could get out.

"Wait Miss Rachel," cried one of the few Tokyo Terrors in the prison, "take us with you!"

"Forget it, I refuse to work with losers like you again. I prefer to work with my other cousin in China." With that said, she produced another fireball and blew out a wall. Several guards tried to stop her, but ended up getting hit by her powers. Then using her powers again, she blasted out the outer wall and walked back onto the streets.

The prison guards had to move the prisoners in that cell to another spot in the prison and work on fixing the wall. They soon finished and no other prisoners escaped, but now Rachel was on the loose.

"Time to leave for now," Rachel thought to herself, "but I'll soon return and those stupid sisters of mine will pay for leaving me behind."

_**The Late Arrival**_

Following what happened at the railyards, Yoshida had decided to stay away until the day she was to leave with James and the rest of the gang. The engines were sad that Yoshida couldn't come to the yards, but they all understood why and many of them blamed Brad, "if you hadn't opened that big mouth of yours, then we would still have the occassional visits. Now we don't get any visits from her anymore."

Yoshida didn't stay in hiding though, she went to the Tokyo Railroading museum to help get things ready for the grand opening.

"I'm sorry about what happened back in the yards," Matthew said kindly to her, "but rest easy knowing that I already had a serious talk with Brad and he won't be shooting that mouth of us off for a while."

"Thank you," smiled Yoshida.

As the day of the grand opening got closer, the rest of the museum's collection started to arrive in the city of Tokyo. There were some old fashioned coaches, some old wooden trucks and even a couple of brake vans. Brad and Michael were also moved into the museum and took their place near a set of windows so they could see outside.

"It's beautiful," smiled Michael.

But although most of museum's collection had arrived, there was still one piece of railroading history missing. The Canadian National engine Matthew had bought from Alberta Canada.

He often went down to the Little Tokyo's yards and asked the Man in the Suit if his fourth engine had arrived, "sorry Matthew, but there hasn't been anymore engines coming off the ships," he said.

"Bother," groaned Matthew. "If Richard, our fourth engine doesn't arrive soon, he might not make it in time for the grand opening."

The reason that Richard, the fourth engine had not arrived, was because the local stationmaster had forgotten to tell the CNR officials that the engine would have to be moved and sent out to Tokyo. When he did remember, it was only a few days before the grand opening.

"Get those gates down and get him onto a truck, we got to get him to the docks tonight," he barked at some workmen.

"Are you kidding us?" they asked in shock, "to do that would take a whole day, you'll be lucky to get this engine at the docks by Midnight. You should've remembered this."

"Hey I was busy, just like we all have, but we have no time to argue about it now, we got to do this."

So instead of going back into his office, the stationmaster helped the workmen tear down the fence and get Richard ready for his trip by road. Two lorries had to be called upon, one for the engine itself and other for the tender.

"Alright, just get them uncoupled and we'll get him going towards the docks," said the Stationmaster.

The workmen tried to uncouple Richard from his tender, but found it was most difficult. Over time, the metal had melted and merged together. "well that would explain why we can't uncouple the engine from it's tender," said one of the workmen.

"But there were several people here working on this engine, I thought they had sorted out the problems."

"Well you thought wrong. Maybe if you had asked us to to do this before, we wouldn't be in this mess."

The Stationmaster groaned and slapped his forehead. "Okay I admit, I forgot and messed up, I shouldn't have done that."

"So what do we do now?"

The Stationmaster thought about it and soon came up with a solution, "we'll have to cut the coupling with a torch," he said, "I'll send a note to Mr Gagnon telling him that Richard will need a new tender coupling."

Luckily, one of the workmen had a torch in his lorry. He lit it and placed a special helmet over his face, "sorry Richard, but it has to be done."

"Go right ahead," said Richard and braced himself for the cut.

Using the torch, the workman slowly cut the metal on the tender coupling. The Stationmaster tried to hurry him up, but was only told to hush up again. Finally though, there came a cry, "it's cut! We can disconnect him now!"

It was more difficult than they thought. Since Richard hadn't moved since the day he was put in the siding, his wheels were stiff and the workmen found it hard to move him onto the trailer. It took almost ten minutes, but at last, Richard was on the flatbed trailer and tied down. His tender was a bit easier and was safely attatched to the other trailer within minutes.

"Alright, let's get this engine to the docks," said one of the lead workmen. Before they left though, he spoke to the Stationmaster, "next time, remember what you have to do and don't leave it to the last minute."

The Stationmaster groaned and said no more.

The lorries left and made their way along the roads to the docks. During the drive, Richard took the time to admire all the scenery around him, "this is not like when I was out on the rails," he thought to himself, "this is quite lovely."

He even took the time to say hello to the people in the towns they passed. They all waved to him and wished him safe travels.

It was dark by the time they arrived. The ship captain was waiting impatiently, "you guys are late," he said, "I was suppose to leave thirty minutes ago."

"Sorry captain, but we had some troubles getting Richard out of his siding," said one of the Drivers and explained everything.

"Well it doesn't matter, let's get him loaded up and let's get going."

Using strong overhead cranes, they lifted Richard onto the ship first and then the tender. They were both placed inside the hall of the ship and tied down safely. "Get some rest boy," said one of the ship-mates, "this is going to be a long trip."

Richard sighed happily and went off to sleep.

At last, the great day came when the museum was to open to the public. Lots of people were there, including Yoshida, but of course, she was wearing a disguise just to be on the safe side.

"This is going to be great," said Primula to Kaede.

"It sure will," she said, but she wasn't looking at Primula. She was looking somewhere else. Primula looked in that direction and noticed that she was looking at Matthew and she was blushing.

"I saw that same look on her face before," Yoshida whispered to Primula, "I think she likes him."

"I think so too," Primula whispered back.

Meanwhile on the stage, Matthew was talking on his mobile phone, "sir, are you a hundred percent sure that my fourth engine has not yet arrived?" He was talking to the Man in the Suit, who was still in his office.

"Sorry Matthew, but no ship from Canada has arrived," he answered.

Matthew sighed unhappily. "Oh well, I guess he's going to miss out on this important event. Thanks anyways sir."

He then hung up. The Man in the Suit placed the phone down on the reciever and was about to go back to doing his paper work when a dock worker came into his office. "Sir, that ship from Canada has arrived and it has the museum's fourth engine."

"Well it's about time," said the Man in the Suit.

"But there's bad news, it has no tender coupling and it can't move under his own power."

The Man in the Suit slapped his forehead, "as if there wasn't enough problems," he sighed. "Well luckily we have a spare tender coupling, but as for moving him - which engines are available?"

"Well I think Courtney is still in the sheds."

"Okay then, go to the sheds and tell Courtney and her crew to get to the docks, I'll give Richard his new tender coupling."

The dock worker ran as fast as he could while the Man in the Suit gathered several workmen and ran off to the docks. They worked as hard as they could and by the time Courtney arrived, Richard's new tender coupling was attached.

"Well let's hope it holds," said one of the workmen.

Courtney puffed up to Richard, got coupled up and started to pull him along the line, tender first. "Hurry, hurry, hurry," Courtney panted, pretending for a moment that she was Gordon.

At the museum, Matthew was giving out his speech, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank you all for coming to the grand opening of Tokyo's new railroading museum. For several years, myself and the men and women of this museum have been working hard to find engines and rolling stock that have either been abandoned or sent for scrap and now, after all these years, we are proud to open this museum to allow all of you and many others to see these historical pieces of history with your own eyes."

Courtney was still pounding the rails. Richard's new tender coupling was holding up pretty good and their wheels were turning at such speeds that they looked like blurs.

"We're almost there," cried Courtney.

Her Driver pulled on the whistle chain and sounded off her whistle loud and long to warn people that they were coming. They puffed onto the city streets and turned down the points to Rex and Tex's line.

By now, Matthew had finished his speech and the Mayor was about to cut the ribbon.

"I now declare the Tokyo Railroading Museum..."

"TOOT! TOOT!" sounded a whistle. The crowds looked and saw Courtney puffing up, all out of breath and with Richard in tow. "Sorry about the delay Mr. Gagnon," panted Courntey, "but the good news is that your latest arrival is here."

The mayor and the crowds waited as Courtney shunted Richard into his place in the museum, then after she backed out, the mayor continued what was going to say, "I declare this museum, open for business."

This was met by cheers from the people and whistles from Courtney.

When the cheering had died down, people were allowed to go into the museum. They really enjoyed looking at all the rolling stock, artifacts, the model railway layout and of course, seeing all four engines.

Richard told off the story of why he was a late delivery and it was a big hit with the crowds.

"Well, this is one grand opening I don't think anyone's going to forget," Matthew said happily.

"You can say that again," Kaede nodded in agreement.

"And now this gives me more time to get to know my new friends here," he said. He raised an eyebrow at Kaede, who blushed into a deeper shade of red.

The museum's grand opening was a great success and lots of the visitors told that to Matthew. They also promised to come back and bring their friends next time they came. The engines enjoyed themselves as well and they all agreed that they were going to enjoy their new careers as Tokyo Museum Engines.

_**The End!**_


	37. Dark Sudrian Secrets

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 37**_

_**Dark Sudrian Secrets**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000 and D.J. Scales**_

Dear Friends,

_Do you remember in the book 'More About Sia and James the Red Engine' that Maggie showed a huge disliking towards Yoshida? Well the answers were most recently revealed on the Island of Sodor and it turns out, Maggie wasn't the only one who had a grudge aganist Yoshida and her entire family. Dark secrets were revealed, two girls got serious beatings and friendships were destoryed, but also a silver lining came and now there are two more people Yoshida can call friends. Here are the stories of what happened._

The Authors

**Stories Included:**

-The Dark Aura

-Summer of Terror

-Held Captive

-Mountain Rescue

-The Apology

_**The Dark Aura **_

_**Written by: D.J. Scales & ThomasZoey3000**_

It was just three days after the opening of the new Tokyo Railroad Museum and already, the place was in full swing. People were looking at the engines and already seeing history right in front of them. However another event was unfolding in a different part of Tokyo.

Over at the Park railway, Karen was being loaded onto a lorry to be taken to the Docks where she would be leaving for the Sodor Steamworks to get her much needed overhaul. The Park Controller and the other Park Engines were there as well to wish her a safe journey.

"Good luck everyone," Karen called to her friends as she was being lifted onto the lorry. "Please take care and if Darren gives you any trouble just tell him to shut his mouth up."

"We will Karen," Rose said, "Just do your best once you get to the Arlesdale Railway on Sodor."

"Small Railway?" Karen asked, "as in the Railway that was designed to haul ballast to the Little Western?"

"I see you've been paying attention Karen," Rioichi, the Lorry who brought Rose before, replied, "Yes that is the Railway that Margaret San mentioned."

"True, but it's not like I'm going to be seeing it anytime soon am I?" Karen questioned.

"Actually you will be seeing it," The Park Controller explained. "I made an arrangement with the Small Controller and in exchange for your overhaul, I have decided to lease you over to the Small Railway until the lease is paid off."

"Look on the bright side Karen, at least you get to put your strength to good use doing some goods work. You did say you like doing goods work," Michelle spoke as Gary tooted his horn in agreement.

As soon as Karen heard that, she was pleased at the thought of putting her strength to good use.

"I did say that, but I don't mind pulling passenger trains now," Karen spoke.

"Perhaps there'll be plenty of passengers on the Arlesdale Railway that you could take if given the chance," Rioichi said as Karen was finally lifted onto his flatbed trailer. Then with a honk of his horn, he pulled away, making sure to be gentle with his precious cargo.

Over at the docks James, Gilbert, Monterray, and Maggie were getting ready for their return to Sodor, but they weren't the only ones going. Sia and Nerine were also going on the trip to Sodor and so were their fathers, Eustoma and Forbessi were also going to Sodor as well. Yoshida had already snuck onto the ship since she was still terrified of Maggie since she fell into a pile of manure and she didn't want to take the chance of risking her wrath.

"I'm glad to be going back to Sodor," Maggie said happily as she was helping to give James a rub down. "Don't get me wrong Tokyo was fun, but at least I'll be home. Although I'm still ticked about one thing."

"What's that cousin?" Sia asked curiously.

"I didn't beat that brat Yoshida to a pulp for what she and her whole family did."

"You're not serious about beating up that poor girl are you?" Nerine questioned.

"Where is your head Nerine?!" Maggie snapped, "did you forget what her sister and her cousins did during their Reign of Terror?! And let's not forget that her cousin Rachel broke out of jail and is on the loose again! At least your cousin has more sense than you do!"

"Don't bring my cousin into this Margaret!" Nerine said firmly as the three princesses began arguing about the subject of Yoshida and her family.

Nearby Gilbert, Monterray, Eustoma, and Forbessi were watching everything and they could see that this could get ugly.

"Maggie still holds a grudge after all these years," Eustoma sighed, "then again, considering what my sister Corina and Forbessi's cousin Cleo said I'm not surprised."

"Neither am I, and from what Cleo said, her daughter is supposed to have great control over her own power," Forbessi retorted, "even better than Nerine herself."

"Lets just hope that your nieces don't beat the life out of Yoshida," Gilbert pointed out. "Otherwise we're going to be sending flowers to Mason and Alessandria and getting a Casket for them to bury their niece."

"I'll do what I can to help Corina keep Maggie's temper in check, but let's just hope that nobody else vandalizes James," Monterray sighed as dark clouds began forming overhead.

Just as the argument between the three princesses was about get ugly, Rioichi pulled up to the station with Karen on board.

"I never thought I'd see the day where a lorry would break up an argument," James said at Rioichi managed to diffuse the situation.

"James-san, there are many things that one does not think they would see in their lifetime," Rioichi said wisely, "but one must expect the unexpected."

"You're beginning to sound like a philosopher or a psychologist," Karen said from her place on Rioichi's flatbed while a crane loaded her onto a flatbed behind James.

Once tied down, they went down to the docks where Rick was waiting.

"Oh joy, I have two useless pieces of scrap to load today," Rick grumbled as he began to lift James' tender into the ship.

"Rick, shut your mouth or I'll come up there and shut it for you," Maggie snapped as she produced an electric orb.

"Trust me when I say this Rick," James advised, "You really don't want to anger my Driver's daughter."

Rick wisely kept his mouth shut as he proceeded to load James' tender onto the ship before loading James himself onto the ship. He then proceeded to load Karen's flatbed onto the ship as the passengers all boarded the Ship for Sodor.

On the boat trip to Sodor, the dark clouds that started to form in Tokyo seemed to be forming right above the sea as well. Gilbert and Monterray thought that this was just some stormy weather that was coming, but the Kings could sense that there was more than just bad weather approaching. Bad news was about to follow them.

As soon as the ship arrived at Sodor and the dock workers got everything arranged, Cranky began unloading the engines, starting with James. He began to lift James' tender and lower it gently onto the rails.

"I'm only going to say this once Cranky, handle James and his tender gently or I will use you as a lightning rod again," Maggie threatened.

"Okay, okay," Cranky said sounding frightened as he gently lowered James' tender onto the rails. He then lowered James on to the tracks as gently as he could, mostly to avoid Maggie's wrath. Cranky managed to lower James gently to the ground. Salty then pushed his tender up to him as Cranky lowered Karen's flatbed onto the rails. The Passengers were all getting off of the boat during the process.

"So what do you think of Sodor so far Karen?" Maggie asked.

"So far its different and bigger than what I expected," Karen said as James buffered up to her flatbed.

"Don't worry Karen, you'll get used to it soon. Now how about I take you to the Steamworks so Maggie and the rest of the employees can get to work on your overhaul?" James said kindly as Maggie climbed into his cab and left with James for the Steamworks.

Once they were out of sight, Yoshida walked up to Sia and Nerine. She was still in disguise and she'd been in her cabin for the entire trip.

"Is Maggie gone?" Yoshida asked.

"My cousin's going to the Steamworks to help with Karen's overhaul, so she's going to be busy for a while," Sia said.

"I still can't believe that she can hold a grudge against a sweet girl such as yourself," Nerine said.

"There are those who hold grudges against others for the most understandable reasons," A distinct Japanese voice spoke.

Sia, Nerine, and Yoshida looked for the source of the voice and to their surprise, it came from another engine.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Yoshida asked scared.

"I'm seeing it, but I don't believe it," Sia said, "I thought Shamus was taken out of service."

"Apprantely he's back in service," Nerine pointed out as the engine in question looked a lot like Shamus. He had lime green paint and had the words North Eastern on his tender. His number however read 1620 instead of 1621. The three girls in question thought Shamus returned to service until the engine explained.

"A thousand pardons, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Espio. I'm Shamus' older brother, the Philosopher King, a part time psychologisht and the Lord of the North Eastern Railway," the Shamus look alike introducing himself.

"Okay that explains why you look like Shamus," Sia interrogated, "but are you anything like him?"

"No I am not, and before you ask how I got here, the Fat Controller purchased me at around the same time Shamus was sold to a railway in Japan," The North Eastern Engine said.

"Well that's a relief," Nerine sighed, "for a minute, I thought we were dealing with another Shamus."

"By the way, I never got your names," Espio said. Sia, Nerine, and Yoshida introduced themselves to Espio and the four of them started chatting as another engine rolled into view. This one was as a 2-6-6-2 Articulated Tank Engine. It was painted black and had the number 110 on its cab while it had the words Black Hills Central Railroad on its boiler.

"Espio, who is this engine?" Sia asked seeing the new engine.

"My name is Seamus," The Articulated Tank Engine said much to Yoshida's worry, which didn't escape Seamus' notice, "Is there something wrong?"

"From what I can gather, it would seem that these three girls had a nightmare from my brother," Espio spoke as the three girls confirmed what Espio told them.

"I never thought that I'd meet a troublemaking Steam Engine as bad as the one you just mentioned," Another voice spoke up from inside Seamus' cab. This one came from a young blonde girl wearing a bandana and sunglasses. "I've seen troublesome diesels back in the states, but I never thought steam engines could be bad news."

"Welcome to the 21st Century Ayaka," Seamus spoke as Ayaka stepped down from Seamus' Cab.

"Ayaka?" Yoshida asked, "as in my Russian American Cousin?"

"That's right, I'm Ayaka," The girl now known as Ayaka said as she removed her bandana and sunglasses revealing her brunette brown hair and brown eyes. She sounded even more timid than Yoshida, "and please keep it down."

"Why?" Nerine questioned. "I thought you'd be happy to see your family."

"Yes I would, but not if my friends find out. If they figure out who I'm related to, then I'm history," Ayaka said explaining her situation unaware that somebody else was listening. It was a person in a black jacket.

"Two of Mason's nieces have returned to Sodor huh?" the mystery girl said, "This makes things much easier."

As Sia, Nerine, Yoshida, Ayaka, Seamus and Espio were talking over in the shunting yards, Diesel was busy arranging empty ballast trucks for Duck to take back to the Little Western.

"I shouldn't have to be arranging trucks for a stupid steam engine," Diesel grumbled, "that stupid teapot Duck should be shunting trucks while I take the trains. I do wish that bet I made would come to pass."

"Calm down Diesel, I've already got information that can decide the outcome of the bets you and some of the engines already made," the mystery girl said stepping out from Diesel's shadow.

"Camille, how did you do that?" Diesel asked as the girl known as Camille removed her hood revealing that she looked a lot like Mayumi only where Mayumi's hear was short and messy, Camille's hair was long and silky. She also had indigo eyes and she was curvy where Mayumi was flat as a board. "Does your father even know that you're here?"

"Considering that my dad is your driver, you're not going to tell him I'm paying a visit, are you Diesel?"

"No I won't tell him you're here, now what did you say about me winning that bet?" Diesel asked.

"Let's just say that I found out that Princess Hot Head and Princess Chill's friend, Ayaka is one of Mason's nieces," Camille said explaining everything that she overheard at the docks and she then told Diesel of what she'd do with that information.

"Great plan Camille, but are you sure it will work?" Diesel asked.

"Of course it will now just let me handle everything from here," Camille said as she left.

Over at Wellsworth Station, Edward had returned from his branchline run and was resting on a siding out of the way. His Driver, Charlie Sand, and his Fireman Sidney Heaver, were currently on lunch break.

Off to the side was another mysterious figure. This one was wearing a black trench coat and wearing the Iron Fist of Terror, which had been stolen from Maggie, but she wasn't alone. She was with some of the members of the England Terrors whom were lucky enough to have been elsewhere when some of the group was stopped.

"So you guys remember the plan?" the mystery figure said to the group.

"We remember the plan Kylie," One of the Terrors in training said, "We vandalize that blue number 2 teapot. Send a picture saying that your stupid cousin Yoshida did this to the niece of the teapot's crew and watch as Princess Chill turns her into an icicle. It was fortunate that you were able to regain the Iron Fist of Terror."

"Glad to see you have a good memory Mindy. The Other Terror Queens and I created the Iron Fist and made sure that we were able to call the fist to us," The girl Kylie said, she had sandy blond hair and brown eyes. "So are you ready? The sooner we do this, the sooner my bratty cousin Yoshida is gone."

Mindy and her group didn't need to be twice as they snuck up next to Edward and pelted him with, eggs, rubbish, and paint balls. They continued doing this until none of his blue paint could be seen. Kylie then took a photo with an untraceable mobile phone and sent the photo as well as a text message to Edna. She was fortunate to have memorized her mobile phone number as well as Maggie's mobile phone number.

"That blue teapot's fully vandalized," Mindy said once she and the girls got back to Kylie's side. "So I have a question.""

"What question is that Mindy?" Kylie asked, "If you're worried about getting caught, then I've already got a plan to throw suspicion off of you. I plan to blame my stupid runt cousin Yoshida like I said earlier."

"Actually I was going to ask how you found out that one of your cousins is already on Sodor," Mindy said.

"I have my sources," Kylie said.

"We should get going before anybody sees us," Another Terror said as they left. A few minutes later somebody else arrived. It was a young girl who looked to be around Maggie's age. She looked a lot like Nerine only her hair was midnight blue, her eyes were golden yellow and she was wearing a Blue Jacket in the same shade of Blue as Edward's Paint.

"Edward, what happened to you?" the Nerine Look Alike asked.

"Somebody vandalized me," Edward said, "apparently whoever did this planned this carefully Edna."

The Demon Girl now known as Edna spoke up next, "Well I'm gonna beat whoever did this to you to a pulp. Nobody vandalizes my engine friends and gets away with it!"

Edward heard that tone before. He could tell from the look in her eyes that vandals throwing eggs, rubbish, and paint at him were one of the few things that ticked Edna off and that she was beginning to sound like Margaret. Before Edna could say anything else she got a text message and a photo saying who was responsible for the vandalism.

"Apparently I just got an anonymous tip saying who did this," Edna said showing Edward the Text message as well as the Photo of the Girl responsible.

"One of Mason's nieces did this? And her name was Yoshida," Edward asked shocked after seeing the message and the Photo. Edna used her powers to make both Text message and Photo big enough for Edward to see.

"What?!" Edna yelled. "I'm gonna rip that Yoshida brat to shreds."

"Calm down Edna," Edward said, "look, just stay out of sight and if she shows up, we'll figure out what to do with her then."

Edna sighed for now and went to go call up her uncles and tell them what happened.

A few minutes later, Yoshida had decided to pay a visit to see Edward. She had heard about him from what James, Sia, and Nerine said. She assumed that Edward would be friendly as well. Unfortunately for her, Yoshida was in for another chase again.

She had just arrived on the scene only to be met with a firm glare from Edward.

"Hello," Yoshida said timidly, "I'm Yoshida."

"I already know who you are," Edward said calmly yet firmly. "You're one of Mason's troublemaking nieces. I suggest you run before my Driver's niece finds and tears you to shreds."

Yoshida didn't argue with Edward's advice as she decided to run only to run right into Edna herself. Edna was looking very cross and she already had a fireball in hand.

"I take it that you're the niece of this engine's driver?" Yoshida timidly asked as she was already shaking in fear of Edna.

"Actually both of Edward's crew members are my Uncles," Edna explained, "and I'm here to tear you to shreads for what you did to Edward!"

"Wait please have mercy!" Yoshida begged.

"Should've thought of that before vandalizing Edward!" Edna snapped before tossing the fireball at her.

Yoshida yelled and ran away as Edna proceeded to chase her around Edward's yards tossing multiple fireballs at her.

"I'm starting to regret ever moving to Sodor!" Yoshida yelled as she literally ran for her life.

"Get back here you little brat!" Edna shouted as she continued tossing multiple fireballs at her. When that didn't work she then proceeded to toss multiple iceballs hoping one would strike.

Yoshida ran over the tracks and Edna was about to follow but she stopped as Hank rumbled by with the Limited. Usually Bear pulled that train, but this time Hank was doing the job since Bear lost the train to him in a bet until the Winter Season and Bear was needed on a goods train anyway.

Once Hank had passed Edna looked all over for Yoshida, but she found nothing.

"Scales!" Edna yelled, "when I see that brat again, I'll make sure she's pushing up daisies!"

"Edna, I know you're ticked off that Yoshida vandalized me, but you don't need to kill somebody," Edward spoke from his siding.

"Are you kidding me?" Edna said, "Of course I do. That brat needs to pay for what she and her whole family did to Sodor, and to me and Maggie."

Edward said nothing knowing full well that his Crew's niece was stubborn on the subject of Mason's Daughters and his Nieces. Before Edward could say anything else, Edna already left looking for Maggie so they could discuss what to do about Yoshida unaware that somebody else saw everything.

"You're absolutely sure that Princess Chill was about to beat up on Mason's stupid niece?" Diesel asked Camille as they were at Tidmouth.

"I'm positive she would've done it," Camille spoke, "if Hank hadn't rushed by then she would've done so."

"Now I'm gonna lose the bet," Diesel grumbled only for Camille to calm him down.

"Relax Diesel, there is still hope," Camille said, "If I know Edna and Maggie, they'll beat down that brat Yoshida before the end of the day."

Diesel said nothing and hoped Camille was right as she left through a shadow and headed for home.

Edna and Maggie were at Tidmouth Sheds later that evening talking about Yoshida being on Sodor and needless to say, the red head was furious.

"Are you serious?" Maggie practically yelled, "That brat's here on Sodor?"

"Yep I heard it with my own ears," Edna said, "I'm as ticked off as you are."

"Great, so now we're stuck with the brat?" Maggie growled, "We're sending her to the graveyard when this is over."

"Actually I was thinking we could send her to the hospital right now," Edna suggested, Maggie didn't get it, but Edna told her to simply turn around. They could see that Yoshida was walking toward Tidmouth Sheds hoping to escape from Edna.

Yoshida herself was looking worn around after she looked over her shoulder. Since Edna chased her around Edward's yards she now had to keep an eye out for both Maggie and Edna in the event that one or both of them would beat her to a pulp. Yoshida was unaware that she was running into trouble.

"Well look what we have here," Maggie sneered as Yoshida showed herself only to run right into Maggie and Edna. "It's the little brat that vandalized Edward."

"And whose entire family caused us years of torment," Edna added as the two Sudrian Princesses prepared to beat up on Yoshida.

Yoshida pretty much began running for her life as she found herself being chased around the yards for the second time that day. This time it was by both Edna and Maggie and both girls weren't holding anything back. Their hair, skin and clothes turned black, their eyes became glowing white and they both looked ready to beat her to a pulp as they tossed fireballs, ice balls, electric orbs and any other elemental orbs they could throw at her.

"Why does this keep happening to me?" Yoshida yelled. "What did I ever do to you?"

"You vandalized Edward you little brat!" snapped Edna.

"And your family tortured us!" Maggie hissed. "You deserve everything that's coming to you!"

The two Sudrian Princesses continued chasing Yoshida until one of Maggie's fireballs hit Yoshida right on her back. Yoshida yelled in pain as she tripped and fell allowing Maggie and Edna to catch up to her.

The engines could only watch as Edna and Maggie proceeded to beat the living daylights out of Yoshida.

"Shouldn't we do something to stop them from beating up that little girl?" Alistor suggested.

Gordon, Henry, Bear, Hank, Duck, Murdoch, and Diesel were all present and needless to say they all looked at Alistor like he was crazy. Espio himself was also present, but he and his crew were taking notes of what was going on so he could make a proper psychological analysis of the situation.

"Are you nuts Alistor?" Gordon asked, "Maggie and Edna would blast us to pieces if we interfere."

"I still have dents from the last time Maggie broke my dome," Henry said.

"I may only have a second hand account of what happened to them three years ago, but even I know better than to cross a super powered princess," Hank spoke.

"All I know is that beating up on others isn't the right thing to do," Alistor replied.

"I agree with you on that, but trust me when I say this," Murdoch advised. "You do not want to get between Maggie, Edna, and whoever ticked them off enough to do what they're doing to that girl."

"I did that once and I had to spend a week in the Steamworks while Hank took the Limited in my place," Bear said.

"Besides Alistor, the only ones who can call off Edna and Margaret are Edward, James, and their crews," Duck advised, "if any of us try to make them stop then who knows what they'll do to us."

Yoshida was still crying out in pain as Edna and Maggie continued to beat up on her as they broke most of her bones. Now they proceeded to torture her by burning her, shocking her and generally use her as a punching bag. Seamus had just arrived in the yards with Ayaka on board. Seamus heard that Edna and Maggie were visiting the engines and wanted to take Ayaka to see her old friends. When he got there however, he noticed that all the engines had looks of shock on their faces as Yoshida's beatdown continued.

"Will somebody tell me what's going on?" Ayaka asked as she climbed down from Seamus' cab.

"I just lost a bet against Diesel and now I'm stuck here while he gets all of my duties on the Little Western," Duck said shuddering at the thought of Diesel taking his coaches.

"And let's not forget that Henry, Hank, and I get passenger duties until the end of the autumn Season," Gordon pointed out.

"You mean yourself, Henry, James and myself Gordon," Hank reminded, "James was included in the bet and he just won himself Passenger Train duties until the winter season begins."

"We know Hank," Bear said, "and because Alistor, Murdoch and I lost we're stuck on goods trains while you get to take the Limited until the end of the autumn season."

"That's interesting, but does somebody care to explain why Edna and Maggie are beating up a little girl?" Seamus questioned.

"Yoshida is one of Rachel, Vypra, and Asuna's cousins," Diesel said simply, "and Ayaka is also her cousin."

Edna and Margaret heard that and needless to say, they pretty much looked ready to send Ayaka to the hospital.

"Calm down, just because I'm related to Rachel, Vypra, and Asuna doesn't mean you have to beat up on me right," Ayaka said and before she could run Edna sent an ice ball at Ayaka sending her to the ground and in an instant Edna and Maggie proceeded to beat the living daylights out of Ayaka too.

"Nice going Diesel," Seamus snapped, "you just revealed information about Ayaka that I was hoping to keep hidden until a later time."

"Seamus, did you know about this?" Duck asked.

"Of course I knew about this," Seamus said before adding with a sigh, "and so did the Culdee Fell Mountain Engines. Ayaka asked us not to tell her friends who she was related to and you can see why."

"I knew about that as well considering I was the engine who sent Ayaka to them," Espio confessed telling the others what he knew.

While Espio was giving out some explanations, Edward was over at the washdown getting the last of the filth cleaned off of him. Sia and Nerine were there with him as were their uncles.

"I'm so sorry that you got vandalized Edward," Nerine said politely.

"It's not your fault, but your cousin Edna tried to torch the vandal responsible," Edward said just as James had arrived.

"What vandal?" James asked.

"Some vandal pelted me with rubbish, eggs, and paint balls. Edna said that the vandal responsible was Yoshida," Edward said explaining the situation.

"Yoshida's no vandal," Sia pointed out. "She may be related to Sakura the Terror Queen and she's one of Rachel Vypra and Asuna's cousins, but she wouldn't vandalize you."

"I may believe you, but try telling that to Edna," Edward said, "she hold a grudge against Yoshida and her entire family for the last three years because of what they did to her and to Maggie."

"I bet Edna said she was going to beat Yoshida to a pulp," James questioned.

"Actually her exact words were when she ever gets her hands on Yoshida she was going to send her six feet under for good," Edward said explaining what Edna said she was going to do to Yoshida.

"From what you said Edward, this is much worse than we thought," James sighed, "Edna and Maggie still hold a grudge after three years."

Sia and Nerine were surprised to hear that their cousins had a grudge against Yoshida, but before they could ask Edward and James had to return to Tidmouth. The two princesses asked if they could come along with them and their uncles decided there was no harm in traveling with them.

When they arrived though, they were in shock as they saw Maggie and Edna beating up the two girls. Both of them were out cold, but they wouldn't stop. Before the engines had even stopped, Monterray and Charlie Sand jumped out of the cabs and ran over towards the two girls.

"That's quite enough!" they snapped as they restrained the two girls.

"No, it's not enough, we're not finished with them yet!" snapped Maggie.

"Now let us go before we beat you up!" Edna shouted.

"Is that so?" Monterray asked with a firm raised eyebrow. "Well if you two do that, then you can start looking for another home."

Charlie was quick to agree, "You only get one warning and if you don't listen, then we will be forced to kick you out of our homes. Now what's more important, revenge or a roof over your own heads?"

"Don't be so rough with them!" shouted Eustoma.

"No they have to be rough and firm with them," said Corina. She and Cleo had just arrived and had seen everything. "If you're not firm with them, then they'll just walk all over you."

"Just like your own daughters do with you two," added Cleo.

The kings were quiet. The two women were indeed correct, they had let their own daughters walk all over them over the years. Both looked at each other and vowed that it would change real soon.

Although the Dark Aura had taken over, both Maggie and Edna did not want to lose their homes, so they agreed to leave, "doesn't matter anyways, we already taught them a lesson," said Maggie.

"In more ways than one," sniggered Edna.

When the two girls had left, along with their mothers, Monterray and Charlie walked up to Yoshida and Ayaka. "Are they okay?" James asked worrying.

"Yes they're okay James, just injured and out cold. We'll call for paramedics to collect them and take them to a hospital," answered his Driver. He sighed unhappily as he pulled out his mobile phone, "I can understand their feeling, but I thought we taught that girl better than that."

"Same with Edna," sighed Charlie.

James and the engines all looked down at the two passed out girls. Now, they wished they had tried to help them.

_**Summer of Terror **_

_**Written by: D.J. Scales and ThomasZoey3000**_

It had been nearly a week and a half since Edna and Maggie sent Yoshida and Ayaka to the hospital. Edna and Maggie had then threatened to beat Ayaka and Yoshida to a pulp if they ever saw them again and this time they'd hold nothing back. Everyone who saw the beating with their own eyes and heard that threat with their own ears and were walking on eggshells, sort to speak, around those two and they had to watch their words. Over with Edward and James, they were taking a train of supplies over to the Sodor Steamworks. As they did that, they were chatting about what happened and they brought Sia and Nerine along for the ride. The trucks this time were coming along as smooth as possible since they too saw what Edna and Maggie did to Yoshida and they wanted to avoid doing anything to anger Edward or James.

"I can't believe my cousin would beat a sweet little girl to a pulp the way she did," Nerine spoke sadly as she rode in Edward's cab. "Why would she do this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine Rina," Sia called from James' cab, "I should've smacked them over the head with a chair."

"Did you not see the Dark Aura?" Monterray reminded, "your father said hitting a god or a demon with Dark Aura would only make things worse."

"I'm more concerned about how Duck is feeling about all of this," James spoke, "I still can't believe that Diesel made a bet with Duck about my driver's daughter and used it as an excuse to switch Jobs with Duck until the winter season."

"Look on the bright side," one of the trucks called, "at least you get to work with passengers until the winter time thanks to Princess Hot Head and Princess Chill beating up a little brat."

"But now that idiot Diesel is doing Duck's jobs," Another truck reminded.

"Duck and Diesel made the bet," A third truck pointed out, "and so did the other engines, now they must pay up."

"And if we're lucky the Ballast Trucks will give him a headache," A fourth truck pointed out.

James was usually expecting a sarcastic remark from the trucks, but this time he didn't get any remarks. He also knew the trucks were right about the fact that Henry, Hank, and Gordon made a bet about his driver's daughter with Alistor, Bear and Murdoch and included James in the process. Needless to say he was going to have a word with Henry and Gordon later, but for now he and Edward had a job to do.

The two tender engines arrived at the Steamworks where they were met by the manager.

"Where do you want these trucks?" Edward asked.

"Just leave them on one of the outer lines," the manager answered, "Wendell the Works Diesel will move them into place later."

Edward and James did as the manager said as puffed into the Steamworks itself while Wendell and Billy went to work arranging the trucks in their proper places.

They saw Molly and Seamus there. Molly was getting an inspection done while Seamus was having his repairs done on him. Needless to say, Seamus wanted to get to work right away as he found it dull in the Steamworks with nothing to do.

"I'm telling you it's just a few dents here or there," Seamus said, "I can work with a few dents."

"But can you work with a popped piston?" one of the employees asked.

"I once pulled a train of logs on only one cylinder," Seamus pointed out.

"That was luck, now calm down and let us do our jobs," Another employee advised, "the sooner we finish your repairs, the sooner you can go back to work. Who knows, you might learn something interesting."

Seamus had to agree with that knowing that there wasn't anything he could do right now.

In another part of the shop on the Narrow Gauge lines, Skarloey, Sir Handel and Duncan were in the shops as well. Duncan and Sir Handel were being cleaned and polished for passenger duties while Skarloey was getting inspections done so he could do shunting and goods trains.

Wendell and Billy had finished arranging the trucks and added their own two cents into the conversations.

"Who would've thought that Edna and Margaret would beat up Ayaka just because she's related to Mason?" Billy asked.

"I had a feeling that they'd do that," Wendell pointed out, "nearly everyone on Sodor knows why they'd do that."

"I know what you mean, but still that's no excuse to beat up somebody," Molly said shocked.

"All I know is that I'm getting Rex's ballast runs when I get back to the Arlesdale Railway," Mike said. He was in another part of the shop along with Karen and Bert and they too were getting their overhauls done. "And he's stuck doing my passenger runs. Remind me to thank Princess Hot Head and Princess Chill when I see them." Sia eyed Mike angerily, she was disgusted by his words.

"Speaking of Passenger Runs, looks like Skarloey won't be doing much of those since he and Rheneas are doing goods work huh?" Duncan chuckled.

"And I get to work with Gertrude and Millicent more," Sir Handel added.

"How was I supposed to know Edna and Margaret would beat up a little girl let alone their own friend?" Skarloey asked.

"Considering this is Maggie and Edna we're talking about, I'm not surprised they'd beat her and her cousin up," Culdee spoke he and Shane Dooiney were there getting repairs done as well. "We all knew it was only a matter of time before this happened and before their anger would boil over like this."

"Wait, you all knew about this?" Nerine asked. "You knew that our cousins hold a grudge against Yoshida?"

"You know why my cousin and Rina's cousin would beat up on Yoshida and their friend Ayaka?" Sia questioned.

"Yes we did," Bert replied. "We knew they would send them to the hospital eventually."

"And what was done to Edna and Maggie was emotionally and physically devastating," Shane Dooiney continued.

"Not to mention what they did to Sodor," Duncan spoke up.

"So will anybody tell us why our cousins despise Yoshida so much?" Nerine asked.

"I'm quite curious to know myself," Karen said. "I've been hearing bits and pieces ever since Edna and Maggie sent Yoshida to the hospital and I'd like to know why they have a grudge against her and her family."

"Very well, but brace yourselves, this is not going to be pretty," Skarloey warned.

"I suggest that anybody with weak stomachs go grab some buckets right about now," Mike advised, "This is not for the faint of heart."

"Before we begin, my crew and I need something," Seamus said.

"What's that?" Sia asked.

"Some pen and paper," Seamus' Driver explained. "We want to have a clear record of this for future generations."

"Now we're ready to listen to the story," Seamus' fireman said as they had the pen and paper ready as the engines all told Sia, Nerine, Karen, and Seamus what happened three years ago.

In the year 2006, during the summer season the engines were all working hard. Gordon was taking the express as usual and he was enjoying the run.

"It's good to be me," Gordon puffed as he thundered along the line. The coaches were also enjoying the trip so far.

"Easy Gordon," his driver, Greg advised, "We had best be prepared for anything. You never know what might happen."

Unfortunately Greg had no idea how right he was, as soon as he said those words gunshots rang out in the air.

"What was that?" Gordon's fireman asked.

"That was probably nothing," Gordon called only for another set of gunshots to ring out, this time they hit something. "OW. My Whistle!"

As soon as Gordon's crew heard that they instantly slowed the train to a stop. Gordon grumbled about being late, but there was nothing he could do as his whistle had been shot clean off and without a whistle he could go nowhere.

"This is the worst thing that's ever happened," Gordon groaned, "oh the indignity."

"Quit complaining Gordon, at least this can't get any worse," Gordon's fireman advised.

"Put your hands in the air," A tough feminine voice called. This one had a south western accent. Gordon's crew could see a young teenage girl wearing clothes from the American old west usually worn by Cowboys. She was armed with two colt revolves and she had a Winchester Rifle slung on her back. The revolvers were aimed right at them. This was Miley, the Texas Terror Queen though Gordon and his crew didn't know this just yet.

"I said put your hands in the air!" Miley yelled again, this time firing a shot at the cab, barely missing Greg.

Gordon's crew put their hands in the air knowing how serious she was after that display of force. On cue, Miley whistled for the England Terrors to start robbing all the passengers and taking all their valuables. Once the robbery was finished Miley saddled up on a horse, but not before Greg had some words for her.

"You won't get away with this you little vandal!" Greg yelled as he went to pick up his mobile phone only for Miley to shoot it to bits.

"I already have," Miley taunted making her getaway, "so long suckers."

Miley and the gang rode away, but not before setting off explosives on the line which damaged Gordon heavily and destroyed one of his cylinders and knocked him onto his side.

"That was the worst experience I ever had in my life," The fireman pointed out. Fortunately, he and the driver were able to get out before the explosion happened.

"I'll go call for help," The Driver said, "you go check on the passengers. Gordon just stay where you are until help arrives."

Gordon groaned, knowing that was all he could do as his driver called for help. Meanwhile, James was enjoying his run with the stopping passenger train. He enjoying the trip as his red paint shown in the sun.

"This is the life," James said, "the only job I'd rather be doing than this is taking the Express."

"Calm down James," Monterray said, "Gordon's got the express today. You know you'll get your chance to take the express."

"Or the Limited," Gilbert pointed out, "but that's usually Bear's train."

"No offense James, but the chances of you being on the front of the Limited are the same as us being robbed by a gang led by a little girl," the Coaches pointed out only for multiple fireballs to strike James on his paint.

"My shiny red paint is being ruined!" James yelled, "When I find the vandals responsible I'm gonna…" James never finished his sentence as one fireball struck the tracks before him buring them under rubble. James and his crew tried to stop but he derailed and ended up in a cow field.

"Talk about Déjà vu," James groaned as he was in the very cow field he had his accident on his very first day. "This stinks."

"Actually it's about to get worse," A female voice taunted as a teenage girl stepped out of her hiding place armed with a fireball. She was wearing clothes from Depression Era Chicago and had a knife in hand.

"I don't know who you are, but put the fireball down and surrender," Monterray demanded, "I'm placing you under citizen's arrest."

Ariel simply tossed a fireball at Gilbert and Monterray and knocked them out before ordering the England Terrors to rob all of James' passengers before they escaped.

"And now for the grand finale. So long teapot!" Ariel sneered while summoning cans of blue paint and dropped them all over James before laughing at him and leaving.

"I hate being painted blue!" James yelled as his crew regained their sences. The Guard ran up to see if they were alright.

"I already called for some help," The guard explained. "Hopefully they'll catch the vandal who did this to you."

Later that day, Gordon and James were in the works. Arthur was with them and from the looks of things he had been heavily damaged. Edward was there as well for he had been the one to bring Arthur and James to the works

"Don't tell me; let me guess," James said, "A little girl robbed your train."

"You don't know the half of it," Arthur groaned, "I was travelling on the rails to the docks taking a load of fish and Rachel showed up and threw fireballs at me and my crew tossing me off the line. Then she ordered the England Terrors to steal all the cargo and to add insult to injury, she summoned fish guts and dropped them all over me, followed by a piano."

Gordon and James were stunned to hear that Rachel did that. Before they could ask more Henry, Neville and Molly arrived at the works each pushing flatbed trucks. On Henry's flatbeds sat Rex, Mike and Bert all three were looking in very bad shape. Molly's flatbeds had Skarloey, Rheneas, and Sir Handel, and they too were looking pretty damaged and Neville's flat beds held Culdee and Patrick and they looked like they were in a battlefield.

"Somebody needs to tell Mavis about her driver's troublemaking daughters, their cousins and their gang!" Sir Handel snapped. "Those horrid little monsters vandalized me."

"Calm down Sir Handel," Skarloey advised, "I'm as angry as you are, but yelling about it to everyone here is not going to help the situation."

"I say we yell at Mavis and tell her and her driver, Mason, of what those brats did!" James snapped.

"I second that decision," Mike added, "they need to pay for what they did to my ballast trucks!"

"What happened to your ballast trucks?" Edward asked.

"Asuna destroyed them, then she drops a piano and a pile of manure on me," Mike hissed, "She ruined my shiny red coat!"

"Vypra damaged the old coaches when I was on my passenger runs," Skarloey spoke calmly, though you could feel the anger in his voice, "and that was after her cousin robbed Sir Handel's passengers while she robbed my own."

"Dare I ask what happened to you two?" Gordon asked as Culdee and Patrick told him what happened and needless to say another argument broke out, but before it got out of control, Edward spoke up.

"Enough all of you!" Edward yelled before composing himself, "I understand that you're all furious. But we need to calm down and get Mavis down here."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Henry asked.

"I'm sure we'll think of something," Molly said, but they had no need to do that.

Half an hour later, Thomas was taking Mavis on a low loader to the works. Her engine had overheated on her and she was due for some repairs. Once they arrived, they could see all the engines glaring at Mavis.

"Did we miss something Mavis?" Thomas asked. "Did you do something stupid?"  
"I don't think so," Mavis said to Thomas before speaking to the other engines. "Why is everyone glaring at me?"

"Your driver's daughters, their cousins and their gang vandalized us!" James yelled at Mavis.

"They robbed our passengers!" Sir Handel shouted.

"They destroyed my ballast trucks!" Mike bellowed.

"They called us pathetic teapots!" Patrick growled.

"They dumped fish guts on me," Arthur said.

Mavis was shocked as each of the engines aired their grievances at her and her driver, Mason, for what Rachel, Vypra, Asuna, their cousins and their gang did to them, well more like yelled their grievances to be precise.

"Poor Mavis though," sighed James as the story paused, "she and Mason, her Driver, have never gotten a moment's peace since those girls started causing trouble."

"Well I guess I can understand the anger all of you would show to Mavis and her Driver," said Nerine, "but we still don't know what happened to make Maggie and Edna hate Yoshida and Ayaka."

There was a pause as the Steamworks went silent.

"Isn't anyone going to tell us what happened?" Sia asked.

There was still his silence in the Steamworks, not even Wendell and Billy said a word. James finally broke the silence, "we are going to tell you two everything, but be warned - what happened to those two may scar you for life."

"James, we were nearly blasted by Rimu's powers in the realm of the demons, I'm sure we can handle this story."

Nerine nodded in agreement. James sighed heavily, "alright then, but don't say we didn't warn you two," and with that said, the story continued...but that will have to wait till the next story.

_**Held Captive **_

_**Written by: D.J. Scales and ThomasZoey3000**_

"It wasn't entirely bad when you think about it," Molly continued, "the Fat Controller did bring in Arthur's sister, Mary, to take his place on the Fishing Village line. Then when Arthur was repaired, she was allowed to stay."

"Mary?" Sia asked.

"We'll tell you about her later," Duncan pointed out, "right now, there is still the matter of telling our guests the rest of the story."

"Hey wait a minute, one thing still bothers me," Karen said.

"What's that Karen?" Seamus asked as his crew was writing down the first part of the story.

"How did the Terror Queens get their powers anyway?" The miniature JNR D60 asked.

Edward and James shared a look, knowing full well that they had to tell them the second part of the story.

"How the Terror Queens got their powers is the reason Edna and Maggie hold a grudge against Yoshida and her entire family," James said.

It was the end of the spring season and the start of the summer season. Unfortunately, there had been an increase in robberies lately and Mason was getting more and more complaints about his daughters. Both the amount of complaints and the subjects of the complaints were much worse than usual. Edna and Maggie were heading home after a long shift of working at the works. They were talking about Mason's daughters and their gang, the England Terrors.

"So here's what I tell the police Edna," Maggie said, "I tell them that I can handle the England Terrors and they tell me to let the police handle this."

"Well you have to remember Maggie," Edna advised, "dealing with stuff like this is work for the police."

"I know that, but somebody has to beat down the England Terrors," The Tomboy Red Head said.  
"I understand where you're coming from and believe me I'd love to give the England Terrors a piece of my mind," the Girly Girl blunette added, "But taking on a street gang is dangerous. Even with our powers."

As the Princesses continued walking, they found themselves surrounded by members of the England Terrors themselves.

"Hey look what we have here," The female group leader sneered, "It's Princess Hot Head and Princess Chill."

"I say we use them as target practice before handing them to our bosses," another terror said, "what do you think Wanda?"

"Over our dead bodies!" Maggie snapped, "Edna, let's get them!"

"I'm right beside you Maggie," Edna declared as the two princesses defended themselves against the England Terrors.

The Terrors all had crude weapons from pipes, boards and even brass knuckles, but Edna and Maggie easily beat them down.

"You'd think they'd learn by now that street fighting is no match for training," Edna spoke.

"Let's call the police and tell them to arrest these fools," Maggie suggested.

"You won't be telling the police anything," a new voice declared.

Edna and Maggie turned around and saw a Chinese Girl wearing a form fitting red tunic and form fitting black pants. She was also holding a pair of twin hooked swords in her hands.

"Who are you?!" Maggie demanded.

"I'm one of Mason's nieces and you're not going anywhere," the Chinese girl said.

"Like that's ever gonna happen!" Maggie retorted before she tossed a fireball at the girl.

The girl simply dodged and tossed the fireball right back at her, using one of her hooked sword. Maggie barely dodged the fireball before the Chinese girl hit Maggie with a few quick strikes knocking Maggie out. Edna then tried to toss an Ice ball only to get hit with a frying pan.

"Katey, did you have to use a frying pan?" the Chinese girl asked as another girl stepped out. This girl had raven black hair and wore traditional Pirate's attire complete with hat and coat.

"Well excuse me for taking the direct approach Mei Ling," Katie said to Mei Ling. "Either way, let's get back to the hideout."

When Edna and Maggie woke up they found themselves tied up in the back room of what appeared to be an old castle.

"Where are we?" Edna asked as she was groggy.

"Welcome to the hideout of the England Terrors," Rachel said, "So feeling comfortable?"

"Rachel, let us go right now!" Maggie demanded as Asuna, Vypra and 10 other girls made their appearance.

"You're not going anywhere," Rachel sneered, "not before you meet our cousins."

"You remember me and Vypra," Asuna said motioning to herself and Vypra.

"And now let's introduce you to our cousins," Vypra said gesturing to the other 10 girls. "You already know Katey and Mei Ling the Terror Queens of the London branch of the England Terrors and the leader of the Hong Kong Terrors, also known as the China Terrors respectively."

"And this is Miley and Ariel," Katey and Mei Ling said introducing Miley and Ariel.

"This is Sarah," Ariel gestured to Sarah who was an Irish looking girl with wild orange red hair and curls. Sarah had blue eyes and she wore Irish Mobster clothes. "She's the Ireland Terror Queen and leader of the Irish branch of the England Terrors."

"The Ninja Girl over here is our Cousin Eloise," Sarah said in an Irish accent, "she's the Scottish Terror Queen and Leader of the Scotland Branch of the England Terrors."

"This is Sonya and Katya, they're the Twin Terror Queens of New York and they lead the New York Terrors with a manager acting as their boss." Eloise said in a Scottish Accent introducing two Russian American twin girls. Eloise had brown hair and green eyes and she wore a ninja's outfit save for the hood.

"I'm Sonya and this is my sister Katya. We lead the New York Terrors," Sonya said in a Russian accent, she was a brunette blonde and had brown eyes. "and we rule all of New York with an iron fist."

"And this is Cousin Alexis, Leader of the California Terrors, and the Queen of White Collar Crime," Katya retorted, like Sonya she was a brunette only she had green eyes instead of brown, "she's somebody you don't want to cross."

"That's right and you two are now our prisoners," Alexis sneered, she was wearing a business suit complete with a skirt. "And we're going to rule Sodor with an Iron fist."

"Over our dead bodies, now let us go!" Edna snapped.

"Yeah right, you're stripped of your powers," Rachel taunted as she was sporting the Iron Fist of Terror. "We drained them form you while you were out cold."

"And we duplicated the crystal holding your magic, so now we've got your powers," Sonya sneered.

"So you're trapped like rats," Miley mocked getting up in Maggie's face. "Anything you'd like to say wimp."

Maggie only glared as she spat right in Miley's face. The Terror Queens all glared at Maggie for that.

"Big mistake you little runt," Katey growled as she and her cousins all beat up on Edna and Maggie. Everything that Edna and Maggie would do to Yoshida three years later, Yoshida's cousins did to them.

Back in the present day, Sia and Nerine were shocked when they learned that. Karen, Seamus and his crew were also stunned.

"By the underworld," Nerine said, "our cousins actually endured such a beating?"

"Now I can actually understand where they're coming from," Sia said.

"It gets much worse," Sir Handel spoke up.

"Much worse than what Edward and James just told you," Duncan added.

"How could it get much worse?" Karen asked.

"We'll tell you," Mike said continuing the story where they left off.

After Maggie and Edna had been kidnapped, drained of their powers, beaten and held prisoner the England Terrors and their 13 bosses began terrorizing all of Sodor during the entire summer. They robbed trains; vandalized businesses, firebombed police cars and police stations, and beat anyone and everyone that tried to get in their way.

Towards the end of the summer, the engines were all looking like they were in a warzone and they were still worried about Edna and Maggie. They all held a meeting at the works.

"Summer's almost over and Edna and Maggie are still missing," Henry pointed out.

"And we have no clue who took them," Gordon said, "it's like they vanished off the face of the earth."

"And let's not forget Mason's bratty daughters and their cousins," James snapped, "they're worse than Mavis and they're more arrogant and troublesome than she was."

"Don't blame me for what my driver's daughters and their cousins do," Mavis retorted.

"James may a point," Molly said, "considering that you were arrogant and troublesome when you first arrived, I can't blame him for saying what he said."

"Based on what James and Molly said, I'm afraid that they may be right Mavis," Edward said much to the chagrin of Mavis and to the surprise of the other engines, "Your arrogance and troublesome nature when you first arrived has rubbed off on your Driver's daughter's and their cousins."

"Oh great, we're never gonna hear the end of this," Murdoch groaned.

"You're telling me," Neville said, "I'm just glad I didn't make a bet with James, otherwise I'd be stuck on good train duties."

"We get it James," Thomas sighed, "We get that some of Mavis' arrogance probably rubbed off on her driver's daughters, but that is no reason to blame her."

Before James could retort a mysterious person wearing a black jacket arrived in the yards.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for ones called Monterray, Charlie, and Sidney," the delivery boy asked.

"That would be us," Monterray said, "now what do you want?"

"I was told to give these scrolls to the three of you," the delivery boy said handing out three scrolls.

"Who told you to give us these scrolls?" Charlie demanded.

"They didn't give me a name," the delivery boy said again. "All they said was to give you these scrolls."

"Very well, you can go," Sidney said, letting the Delivery boy leave. "Let's figure out what the scrolls say."

Monterray, Charlie, and Sidney read the scrolls and needless to say, they were all shocked at what they read.

"What do the scrolls say?" Molly asked.

"The England Terrors have kidnapped Edna and Maggie," Monterray said.

"And they've held them prisoner since the entire summer began," Charlie continued.

"And if we don't get each of their 13 bosses 100 million dollars, 500 million of which has to be in American currency, 100 million has to be in Chinese currency and the rest has to be in British currency by summer's end, we will never see Edna and Maggie again," Sidney finished.

"So all together that's about 1,300,000,000 dollars?" said a familiar voice and it turned out to be the Fat Controller.

"Beg pardon Sir, how much did you hear?" Duck asked.

"Enough to know that we've got no choice, but to pay the ransom," The Fat Controller said.

"No offense sir, but you can't be serious?" Molly asked.

"I second Molly's opinion sir," Murdoch added, "we cannot do what the scrolls demand."

"Maggie is being held prisoner by the England Terrors!" James snapped.

"And so is Edna," Edward reminded doing his best to keep the peace.

"We get that, but we're just saying where are we going to find enough money to pay them by summer's end?" Neville asked.

"I don't know, but we'll figure something out," Thomas said.

The engines all had to be content with that as they worried for Edna and Maggie.

Soon Summer's end had arrived and Thomas and Molly were taking a truck with the Ransom money to Vicarstown in their goods train. The scrolls said they were to deliver the ransom money at Vicarstown.

Back at the engine sheds, Edward, James and the other engines were all worried.

"I still say we should've gone Edward," James said.

"Believe me James, I'd love to have gone as well, but we all agreed that Thomas and Molly were to go," Edward said. "If we sent you, Gordon, or Henry then Rachel, Vypra, and Asuna would know something's up."

"Besides James, Molly has Thomas with her so what could possibly go wrong?" Neville said trying to lighten the mood.

"Neville, my driver's son can tell you that when somebody says that, something's bound to go wrong," Henry pointed out.

"Henry, normally I'd say that your driver's son has been watching too many movies, but in this case I may have to agree with you," Murdoch said.

"We can only hope that this goes well at this point," Gordon said.

Over at Vicarstown, Molly and Thomas arrived with the goods train and the ransom money. Needless to say, they were looking worried about Edna and Maggie. Dark clouds hovered in the air as the air became thick with mist.

"This is the place right?" Thomas asked as their crews and the porter began to unload the 13 suitcases, each of which was filled with 100 million dollars.

"This is it," Molly replied as the last of the suitcases was unloaded.

"Alright Rachel, we have the money, now show yourself," Molly's driver demanded as Rachel showed up with her sisters and cousins in tow. Rachel was wearing the Iron Fist of Terror.

"You showed up," Rachel sneered, "so did you meet our demands?"

"Here's the ransom money," Molly's fireman growled as the suitcases were opened. "Now let Edna and Maggie go."

"Alexis, count the money and make sure they didn't cheat us," Vypra said.

"Already on it," Alexis said snapping her fingers as the 13 suitcases vanished before they reappeared before the 13 bosses. Alexis began counting up the money. "It's all here and I checked again and triple checked."

"Very well then, we'll let Edna and Maggie go," Mei Ling said and on cue two sacks were tossed at Thomas' driver and fireman who caught them before they hit the ground. Thomas' crew opened the sacks and found that one of them contained Edna and the other contained Maggie. Both of them were bound, gagged and completely beaten heavily, but they were very much alive.

"And now we'll take our leave. So long losers," Sonya mocked as Miley shot Thomas and Molly's whistles.

"Miley, did you have to do that?" Katey asked as the Terror Queens left.

"I did that so they couldn't follow us," Miley asked. "And besides, Eloise already checked to make sure that they didn't bring any law enforcement."

The Terror Queens all laughed at that as they left with their ransom money.

Back in the present day, Sia, Nerine, Karen, Karen's driver, Seamus, and his crew were all shocked. They were speechless after hearing all of that. Seamus' crew continued writing all of that down so they could have written records of what happened three years ago.

"So now you know why Edna and Maggie hold a grudge against Yoshida and her entire family," Sir Handel said addressing Sia, Nerine, Karen, Karen's driver, Seamus, and Seamus' crew. "Do any of you have any questions?"

"Just one," Sia asked still shocked about hearing all that, "They didn't get away with that did they?"

"Unfortunately they did," Skarloey said sadly, "they even mocked us about how untouchable they were because of it."

"Mason tried to banish his daughters to the States," Culdee added, "but they pretty much shook up the United States of America in the year 2007 by terrorizing all the railways and the people there in the process."

"And last year they did something shocking," Mike spoke.

"What was that?" Nerine asked.

"They spent the summer of 2008 in the Caribbean Islands," Duncan said, "and they actually left the place in one piece."

"And now they're currently terrorizing the entire British Railway Network in revenge for the fall of the Tokyo Terrors and the Sudrian Branch of the England Terrors," Mike spoke up.

As soon as Mike said that, there was silence in the Sodor Steamworks. Nobody said a single word. Even engines were all stunned yet nobody noticed that Camille was once again listening on the whole thing and she had a tape recorder on hand. She left via a corridor of shadow and found herself in the smelters yard.

"I knew my bosses were dangerous, but I didn't think they were this dangerous," Camille thought as she walked, "perhaps I should consider paying Cousin Mayumi a visit. Ah who am I kidding, nobody's going to listen to a mobster's niece."

She walked by a pile of scrap unaware that on the other side of the pile, a small engine listened and was sleeping. The engine resembled a Milwaukee Road Class S3 Northern. The engine looked rusted and was surrounded by piles of scrap, but was still intact. Camille continued walking away, unaware that she and the engine would be brought together by fate.

Later that night, Sia and Nerine left the Steamworks, shaken up by what they heard.

"It's makes you feel lucky Rina," said Sia. "James found us and we were saved in the nick of time."

"Yes, we were lucky," she nodded. "Now I understand their pain perfectly, it almost makes me want to get back at all of them..." Nerine shook her head, "No, we can't do that. They'll eventually get what's coming to them, cause not everything lasts."

"I agree with you there Rina, especially on the subject of things lasting forever - I'm only hoping that the grudge our cousins hold against Yoshida and Ayaka doesn't last forever." And with that, both girls walked off to their hotel without another word.

_**Mountain Rescue**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000/With Thanks to D.J. Scales for Assistance**_

Yoshida and Ayaka soon recovered and were released from the hospital, although they wished they weren't. They were now terrified to go anywhere on the North Western, or to the Skarloey Railway, or the Small Railway. They were worried of crossing paths with Maggie and Edna again.

"I think I should've stayed in Tokyo," Yoshida groaned. "The worst thing that could happen to me is that I go to jail over something I didn't do. Here, I get beaten up so badly that I get sent to a hospital."

"I know how you feel cousin, but you can't just leave," said Ayaka.

"I know that, it would upset my Aunt and Uncle to no end. But still, where can we go now?"

Due to her friendship with Espio, Ayaka soon got the answer to Yoshida's question. When he came by with a goods train, he suggested that they should go to the Culdee Fell Mountain Railway.

"Why there?" Yoshida asked curiously.

"Well, according to Espio, it's a perfect place for us to get away from those two girls. Edna is too scared of heights and Maggie often gets dizzy up there."

Yoshida wasn't sure about that. After all, she had seen Maggie on the roof of the Little Tokyo sheds and on the station roof following the end of the Tokyo Terror's Reign of Terror. After a while though, she put those thoughts to a side and the two girls boarded the next train to the Culdee Fell railway.

They rode on a stopping passenger train, then they rode on one of the electric railway trains before finally reaching the railway.

"Have you ever been here before Ayaka?" Yoshida asked when they arrived.

"Oh yes, plenty of times," she answered. "It's a lovely railway and the engines..."

Before she could say another word, there came a shrill whistle. Moments later, a purple tank engine came into view with a coach in front of it. It had a tall funnel, it's boiler was tilted downwards and it had a number six on both it's sides. There was also a name-plate, which showed the name 'Patrick.'

"Ayaka, are you alright?" he asked kindly, "I heard about what happened."

"Yes Patrick, I'm okay and so is my cousin Yoshida. Although, I'm hoping we don't have to go through that again."

Ayaka then introduced Patrick and his crew to her cousin, Yoshida.

"So you're Yoshida huh? I've heard of you," said Patrick.

Yoshida gulped and back up nervously.

Patrick showed a kind reassuring smile, "but you can relax, I don't blame you for what happened and I won't judge you. I only wish that those girls would learn that for themselves."

"Careful Patrick," advised his Driver. "They might not be here, but they have ways of finding out," he paused and looked up to the sky. "And I don't think they'd let you get away with saying that."

"Or for standing in their way," gulped Yoshida, remembering what happened to Nina.

It wasn't long before it was time for Patrick to head up the mountains. Ayaka rode in Caitlin the coach while Yoshida was given the chance to ride in the cab.

"Are you sure that's okay?" she asked.

"Of course it is," answered the Driver. "Any friend or family member of Ayaka is a friend of ours, and we don't mind having friends in the cab."

Hearing that eased Yoshida's fears and she climbed aboard.

The last door soon banged, the guard's whistle blew and Patrick puffed out of the station. As they stormed up the mountain, Yoshida took the time to look at the scenery, she thought it was amazing and said so to Patrick and his crew.

"She has great manners," Patrick thought to himself. "It's a pleasure having her aboard."

"Is that a big horned sheep?" Yoshida asked.

The fireman looked out the cab, "where is it? I don't see anything."

"It's over there," Yoshida pointed in a direction and the fireman looked, straining his eyes.

"Yeah, it is a big horned sheep," he said after a while, "but how could you see that sheep in the distance?"

"It's my eye-sight, I've always been able to see beyond normal eyesight," she said.

"Wow!" exclaimed Patrick. "With that kind of eye-sight, you should be part of the Search and Rescue team. You could probably save lots of lives with that eye sight of yours."

How true Patrick's words were going to be.

Later that day, a young man and his girlfriend were hiking up the mountainside. The boy was enjoying himself, but his girlfriend wasn't. She was a little worried, "are you sure this is safe Ryan?"

"Of course it's safe Emily," he called confidently. "I've done this many times before."

"Maybe so, but..."

"Stop worrying so much, we'll be fine."

And with that, the boy started climbing again.

"Famous last words," muttered the girlfriend.

No sooner had she muttered that than their troubles began. The boy stepped on a loose rock. It slipped and the boy fell backwards. He banged aganist some rocks for a few seconds before coming to a stop, legs astride in front of a big rock.

"Ryan!" his girlfriend cried, "are you okay?"

"No I'm not!" he cried in pain. "I got a huge cut on my right arm, I sprayed my angle and I can't move!"

"Hold on Ryan, I'm coming!"

"No Emily, don't move!"

It was too late. His girlfriend ran down to help and like her boyfriend, she too slipped on a loose rock and started to fall. She banged aganist rocks, getting more cuts than her boyfriend. That was the least of her problems though as she was nearing the edge of a precipice.

"Oh no!" she cried.

She fell off the egde, but luckily, she was able to grab hold of a rock. She was safe, but she wasn't sure for how long.

"I hope someone will come soon, otherwise..."

She looked down and groaned, she didn't want to think about it.

As luck would have it, Patrick was on his way down the mountain with his coach full of happy visitors, including Ayaka and Yoshida.

"That was a good suggestion Espio made," said Ayaka. "I wouldn't have thought of coming here had it not been for him. We should really thank him next time we see him...whenever that will be."

Yoshida sighed and looked out the window and that's when she noticed, "someone's hurt over there!" she cried.

Ayaka and some of the passengers looked, "where?" asked one of the passengers, "I can't see anybody out there."

Yoshida could and quickly grabbed the emergency brake handle. The brakes came on with a groan and the train stopped. The guard thought that someone pulled the cord for a couple of laughs and so, he walked up to Yoshida with a firm look, "young lady, that is not a toy. That's for emergencies only."

"But there is an emergency, someone's hurt out there!"

The guard didn't believe her, but agreed to go with her and see. The crew went with them and they were shocked to discover Yoshida was right.

"Are you okay kiddo?" the fireman asked.

"No, I'm hurt," he groaned, "and I think my girlfriend is in worse trouble."

"Where is she?" asked the guard.

"She's on the edge of the precipice," he answered and pointed to where he last saw his girlfriend.

Yoshida ran over to the edge of the mountainside and found the injuried girl hanging on for dear life. She reached down and grabbed the girl's right arm - and not a moment too soon as the injuried girl let go of the rock.

"Don't worry, I'll save you," Yoshida called.

Yoshida pulled as hard as she could and slowly but surely, she lifted the injuried girl back to safe ground.

"Well shut the front door," said the guard, "she did it!"

"Way to go cousin!" called Ayaka.

The Driver and the guard helped the injuried boy to the coach, then Yoshida helped the girl aboard. Both of them had cuts and bruises and needed to go to the hospital.

The guard made a phone call to the manager while Patrick made his way slowly down the mountainside. Yoshida, Ayaka and many of the passengers did their best to keep the young couple calm and even offered up their jackets for the bigger cuts.

They soon reached the station where the paramedics were waiting. They young couple were helped into two ambulances, then they were taken away.

A few days later, they returned to thank the crew and Yoshida, "if it hadn't been for you, we would probably still be on the mountainside."

"Well he would of," said the teenage girl, "but me...well you know where I would've ended up."

"Right," said the boy, "almost forgot about that."

"Anyways, we're here to say 'thank you' for helping us," the girl said to Yoshida.

"Oh you're very welcome," smiled Yoshida, "I'm just glad you two are okay."

Patrick smiled as he watched everything, "yes, well done Yoshida, you did good. But it still leaves me wondering."

"And what would that be Patrick?" his Driver curiously.

"Will those two girls; Maggie and Edna treat Yoshida differently after hearing about this?" the crew didn't answer, mostly because they didn't have an answer.

The answer would soon come, but that will have to wait till the next story.

_**The Apology**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000/With Thanks to D.J. Scales for Assistance**_

Word soon spread about the Mountain Rescue and although the name of the heroic girl was changed, mostly to protect her, many people and engines knew it was really Yoshida and they were proud of her.

Toby was proud of her too, but he wasn't proud of Maggie and Edna for what they did and when he next saw them at Thomas' junction, he spoke to them with an angry stare upon his face.

"I heard about what you two did at Tidmouth and all I can say is that I am ashamed of you two." Toby knew they were possessed by Dark Aura, but that didn't matter to him at this time. "Attacking two innocent girls and threatening many of my friends, that's crossing a serious line."

"Toby, you don't understand," said Edna, calmly but firmly. "You can never understand what Maggie and I went through..."

"It's true, I'll never truly understand and I do understand the anger you have," he said kindly. The kindness disappeared though as his anger returned, "But attacking those who were not involved isn't going to solve anything."

"It helps more than you think," smirked Maggie.

Toby looked like he was going to blow a steam pipe, "You know that stupid attitude reminds me of Shamus, he didn't care for anyone either." Both girls looked like they were going to blow a vein.

"All I am saying is that you attacked the wrong girls and I hope one of these days, it'll sink into your thick skulls and leave you feeling guilty over what you two did."

The two girls did not like hearing that and were almost ready to attack Toby. Thankfully though, the Fat Controller showed up in his light blue car.

Very wisely, the two girls turned and left.

The Fat Controller walked down to speak with Toby. He knew what had been going on, just by looking at Toby's face. "Toby, I know you are angry, but you shouldn't..."

"I know sir," Toby interrupted in a kind manner, "I know they are possessed by the Dark Aura, but I can't let them walk away feeling proud of what happened. Someone had to be firm with them, cause their parents sure aren't."

"Uh you're wrong Toby, their parents are dealing with them," said the Fat Controller. "From what I was told, they're grounded till they apologize to those two girls and they are not allowed to go anywhere but work. In fact, I was asked to watch over them and it's a good thing too. Next time you speak to them, be firm but calm."

"Yes sir," said Toby.

The Fat Controller turned and left. There came a rumble from above, then a flash of lightning shot down and struck the ground next to Toby. Toby gulped at this site. He knew how lucky he was at that moment, but the scoldings were not done yet.

When he next came to the junction, he found Edward with a train of trucks. Toby spoke first, "I am just as ashamed of you Edward, more than I am about Maggie and Edna. You never judge before you get to know someone."

Toby then told Edward about Yoshida's sad life.

When he was done, Edward looked ashamed, "oh dear," he said, "I didn't know about Yoshida. I should've asked questions before taking action. I feel like a right fool."

"Well even we old engines make mistakes Edward."

"You're right there Toby," Edward agreed.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"The right thing of course, apologize to that sweet little girl."

"Now that's the Edward we've all known for years," Toby smiled. The signal dropped and Toby set out on his way. Edward left a minute later, determined to put things right.

Ayaka and Yoshida did enjoy going to the Culdee Fell Mountains everyday, but now it was time to return to the North Western Railway.

"I can talk with my uncle Mason and ask if we can work in the quarry with him," Yoshida said to Ayaka, "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we gave him a lending hand."

"Oh I'm sure he wouldn't mind, but..."

"But what?"

"I don't know if we're gonna be making it back to the junction in one piece," Ayaka then pointed down the tracks.

Yoshida looked and gasped, for coming into the station with the stopping passenger train was Edward. Both knew Edna was the niece of his Driver and fireman and slowly backed up, away from Edward cause they thought Edna was onboard.

She wasn't of course, but Edward could still tell that they were worried. "Don't worry you two," he said kindly, "Edna is not onboard me."

Even so, Yoshida kept her distance.

"Yoshida, I apologize for jumping to conclusions before getting to know you. It's not who I am and I am truly sorry for what happened. I hope you can accept my apology and hope we can become friends."

Silence filled the station till Edward broke the silence, "Toby and James have told me about you and I think you're a brave girl for facing all those challenges." He then went silent and waited.

Yoshida slowly walked up to Edward, then she placed her hand on his cab and brushed something off of it, "You had some dirt on there," she said. Edward smiled. "It'll take me a while, but I'm sure once my nerves have calmed down, we'll become good friends."

Edward's crew then said that the two girls could ride in Edward's cab to Thomas' junction. The girls took the offer and climbed aboard. Then once all the passengers were on the train, Edward set off.

At the Crovan's Gate Steamworks, Maggie was giving James a good rub down. She was still cross over what Toby said to her and Edna that she often scrubbed too hard, "Ow! Careful Maggie, otherwise you'll scratch my paint off!"

"He said we remind him of that Shamus," She grumbled. "How dare he say that, we're nothing like Shamus."

James could understand why Toby was yelling, but he didn't want Maggie to scratch his paint off, "I'm sure Toby didn't mean to yell at you two. He was probably working last night and you know how cranky some engines get when they have to work late into the evening."

"Yeah that's probably it," she nodded as she calmed down. Thanks to James' words, she wasn't scrubbing as hard as before.

"Whew, good thinking there James," he thought only to himself.

A short while later, Edward had to stop at Crovan's Gate. "Sorry, but I got some trucks I need to drop off. Just stay down and I'm sure they won't see you."

"Even if they do, they'll have to deal with us," said Charlie Sand.

The girls hid next to the cab wall as Edward began his shunting. They could see Maggie close by, giving James his rubdown, but that wasn't all they saw. Diesel was shunting some trucks before going back to the Little Western, "I'll look splendid pulling those coaches," he thought. "Much better than that Duck ever could."

He was so busy thinking over how splendid he would look that he didn't notice that Maggie was on his line. She had stepped away to take a look to see if she had missed any part of James and didn't notice Diesel coming towards her.

"Maggie, get out of the way!" cried Sid Heaver.

"Move already!" called Charlie Sand.

Yoshida heard them and looked to see that Maggie was in great danger. Not wanting to see someone get hurt, she got up and ran out of the cab.

"Yoshida don't!" cried Ayaka and Edward in unison.

Maggie heard the name and was about to turn around when Yoshida grabbed her right arm and pulled her towards James' front end. They were just a few inches clear of Diesel's train of trucks, but they made it safe and sound.

"Oh my," gasped Diesel's Driver, "That would've been ugly."

Diesel was quick to agree and rumbled away without another word.

Maggie was confused and shocked. "I don't know why you hate me so much, but I would never hurt you or allow you to get hurt."

She then turned and walked over towards Edward. As they left, Edward started to tell Yoshida and Ayaka about the Summer of Terror.

"Are you alright Maggie?" James asked.

"I'm not sure. James, am I dreaming?"

"No you are not."

Maggie fell into silence, she didn't know what to say. Edna, who watched the event unfold from another part of the Steamworks, was also stunned and was silent.

Later that evening, the two girls were working on Karen and were talking about the most recent events, "she's in the same family as Sakura the Terror Queen, who's cousins kidnapped us a few years back."

"True Edna, but...she saved me. She actually saved me."

"One act of kindness is not enough..."

Just then, a thought came into Maggie's head, "what if she was the one who saved the couple on the Culdee Fell Mountain? They could've used a different name like the Man in the Suit did before."

"Well I guess that is true," said Edna.

Karen had wanted to put in her own two cents, but she decided it was best not to do that.

"Come to think of it, despite her fears, she did come down to the Little Tokyo sheds to help with the repairs," Maggie continued, "and yet..."

Both girls went silent for a while.

"In the time we had known Ayaka, she never tried to attack us," said Edna. She then asked, "do you think we were wrong about them?"

"You know Edna, I'm starting to believe that," She then remembered the chases and the beatings outside of Tidmouth sheds. "Oh my gosh, we were so stupid."

"Indeed we were," agreed Edna, "we judged before we knew. That's what Toby was telling us."

"And we thought he was talking stupid."

"Yet we were the stupid ones...Maggie, I think there's something we have to do tomorrow."

"Yes we do," she nodded in agreement.

To everyone else's surprise, the dark clouds that had been hanging above the Island of Sodor disappeared, revealing a beautiful night sky filled with stars.

The next day, Yoshida and Ayaka had arrived at the Big Station after riding Edward's stopping passenger train. They were to do some shopping that day and since they thought that Maggie and Edna were working at the Steamworks, upon orders by their families, they were not wearing their disguises.

"Not a dark cloud in the sky today," Oliver the Western Engine remarked, "it's nice to see blue skies and not grey clouds."

Duck was quick to agree, then he spoke to the shy timid girls, "I speak on behalf of all the engines that were at Tidmouth and didn't help out. If those girls weren't possessed by the Dark Aura, we would've tried to help you."

"Oh that's alright, we don't blame you lot or them," she muttered.

"Even so, it was wrong of them to attack you," said Oliver. "Rest assured though, we won't be letting something like that happen again."

"Och Aye," agreed the Scottish twins, "we dinna care if they're possessed by the Dark Aura, we'll give 'em a pice oof oor minds."

"Well it looks like you'll be getting your chance," said Duck, "Cause they're coming into the station right now."

Yoshida and Ayaka looked to see that Duck was right. For walking into the station were the girls of their discussions, only now with downcast faces and without the Dark Aura covering them. Yoshida and Ayaka backed up nervously while the engines and several members of the station staff looked down at them with firm stares.

"It's alright guys," said Maggie, "we're not here to cause trouble."

"We'll believe that when we see it," said Oliver.

Mostly everyone in the station murmured in agreement.

Maggie and Edna turned to the two timid girls, then together they said, "We're both very sorry for what we did."

The two shy timid girls were surprised and confused.

"Ayaka, we've known you for a while now and we should've known that you would never try to hurt us," said Edna, "so we would like to apologize for betraying you."

"Oh well, apology excepted," she smiled, then she looked over to her cousin.

Maggie turned to face Yoshida as well, "and it seems we owe you an even bigger apology for what we did, it's just that..."

"I know," she interrupted kindly, "Edward told us about what happened back in 2006 and now I know why you didn't like me."

"Maybe so, but that is no excuse for what we said and did to you here and in Tokyo. We're sorry, deeply sorry and I hope we can become friends someday."

"And no, we're not just saying this, we actually mean it," said Edna.

Silence filled the station, no one knew of what Yoshida was going to say.

"We would really like you to be our friend," added Edna, Maggie nodded in agreement.

Yoshida thought about it, then looked at their faces, it was clear that they meant every word they said. Then she gave them her answer, "I would like to be your friend, but you have to promise that no matter what the rest of our family does, you won't take your anger out on us again."

"We promise," they said in unison.

"Okay then, I will accept both your apologies and your friendship."

Maggie and Edna smiled when they heard this and the engines whistled, loud and long. The crowds and station staff cheered so loudly that they nearly raised the roof.

"It's about time," said Oliver, but was quickly hushed by the other engines.

The friendship between Ayaka, Maggie and Edna was soon restored and the three girls were talking like old friends again, you wouldn't have known anything happened.

As for Yoshida, she soon got used to her new lifestyle on Sodor, mostly thanks to the help of Maggie and Edna. All three are now good friends and have taught each other a great deal. Yoshida taught them everything about Japanese ways and they taught her many things too, like self-defense so she wouldn't become an easy target for bullies.

Still, I bet you're wondering about the punishments right? Well, although Edna and Maggie still wanted to get back at those who kidnapped them, their new bonds with Yoshida and their restored bond with Ayaka were enough for the punishments to be lifted. But both were given firm warnings and had to promise never to let the events that occurred to ever happen again. They both promised and from that point onwards, they certainly have been living up to their promises. All's well that ends well, don't you agree?

**Author's Note:**

Yoshida saving Maggie in the Steamworks was inspired by the real life event where a teenager saved two kids when they walked away from their backyard to get their ball. Both kids were standing on the main line as a commuter train came into view. The teenager grabbed both kids and brought them to the safety of the lineside with inches to spare from the commuter train.

_**The End!**_


	38. Visiting Sudrian Engines

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 38**_

_**Visiting Sudrian Engines**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_Engines have come and gone throughout the history of Sodor, some were nice and some were not so nice. Many had accidents that should never have happened and other accidents were caused by stupid actions and boasting. Most recently on Sodor, the six girls; Maggie, Sia, Yoshida, Ayaka, Nerine and Edna learned of these engines, then they of course told me and now I'm sharing those stories with you. I hope you will enjoy the stories and hearing about those Visiting Sudrian Engines._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Albert Loses Control

-Robert

-John the Police Engine

-87 & 98

_**Albert Loses Control**_

One evening, Sia and Yoshida arrived at the Skarloey Railway sheds. They were to wait for Maggie to arrive after getting out of work. The three girls were to go to a one-night only concert.

"How in the world was Maggie able to get concert tickets for us?" Yoshida asked.

"I don't know, my cousin never tells her secrets."

They waited and waited, but there was no sign of Maggie. Ichigo and Skarloey came into the sheds during the time and Sir Handel came to take on more water.

"Nice paint job Skarloey," he called cheekily. Skarloey was covered in quarry dust and Sir Handel, who had been working with the coaches, took it upon himself to make fun of the old engine. "Are you enjoying your work? I know I'm enjoying my work."

Instead of getting cross, Skarloey just smiled and spoke with a calm voice, "I am enjoying my work, it makes a nice change. The workmen are liking my work, they say that I'm a smooth shunter unlike some engines they could mention."

Sir Handel snorted and puffed forward quickly, much to the surprise of his fireman.

"Whoa Sir Handel!" he shouted, "You nearly knocked me off!"

Sir Handel stopped and waited. Once the fireman had climbed back into the cab, he puffed away to get the coaches.

"Is he always like that?" Yoshida asked.

"I've only been around a year," said Ichigo, "but yes, I do believe he's always been like that."

Meanwhile, Sia was looking at her watch, "if she doesn't get here soon, we're going to be late getting to the concert."

"Patience is a Virtue," said a wise voice, but it wasn't from Skarloey. The two girls looked and found Duke the Brown Engine coming towards the sheds. "I'm sure your friend will be along any second."

"She's actually my cousin."

"Oh sorry - say, did Sir Handel puff off in a huff again?"

"Yep, he did it again," answered Skarloey. He then told Duke of what he said earlier.

Duke sighed, "Same old Sir Handel, I'll never understand that engine. I don't know why he's not like Albert."

"Who?" the two girls and Ichigo asked in unison.

Skarloey had a good idea of who Duke was talking about, "was he an engine who worked on the Mid Sodor Duke?"

"Indeed he was Skarloey," Duke answered. "A little boastful at times, I will admit, but he was a hard worker and a proud product of Falcon Works."

"So what happened to him?" Yoshida asked curiously.

"Well I'll be glad to tell you," he paused and looked beyond the sheds. "It might also help you two pass the time while you wait."

The girls agreed to the idea and balanced themselves on Skarloey's bufferbeams. Duke cleared his throat and began to tell the story...

Albert was an engine that looked like Sir Handel, but had a light shade of blue paint, a No 4 on both sides of his cab and a set of back wheels underneath the cab. He was a hard worker and did whatever job he was asked to do. He was a favourite to all the workmen, next to Duke of course and once, Albert was sent to a railway Gala to show what the Mid Sodor's engines were all about.

He also did not approve of No. 2, Stanley's behavior.

One evening, Albert was puffing along the Mountain Road with a crane and a workmen's coach. He did not like this line, "an engine can come off this line if they're not careful," he would say to his crew.

The crew agreed and shuddered, they didn't want to think about it.

At last, they found Stanley. He was on his side in a ditch while his trucks were still on the tracks.

"Another fine mess you got yourself into this time Stanley," Albert called to him, "When will you ever learn?"

"It wasn't my fault," Stanley retorted, "it was the stupid tracks, they broke out from underneath."

"They did not," his Driver said firmly, "you bounced off the tracks because of your rough riding."

"I am not a rough rider!" he snapped.

The crew and Stanley argued while Albert and the workmen went to work. Albert took the trucks away while the workmen, using the breakdown crane, lifted Stanley back to the rails.

When they returned to the yard, the Mid Sodor Manager asked Albert to shunt Stanley into the sheds, then asked him to take Stanley's next train.

Albert did as he was asked and soon made up for lost time.

Stanley was given his last warning by the manager, but of course, he took no notice. It was going to be his ultimate downfall.

A few days later, a blizzard came and Stanley came off the rails, damaging himself beyond repair.

"I thought you would've listened to my warning Stanley," the manager said unhappily to him, "but I guess in the end, that oversized ego will always get the better of you."

"I do not have a..."

"That's quite enough Stanley! I don't want to hear another word. I will have the workmen take away your cab and your wheels, then you'll become useful at last."

Stanley gulped, he wasn't smiling or laughing then.

The manager then went over to Albert, "I would like you to take Stanley's next train to the top Station, but be careful, this blizzard is getting worse by the minute."

"Ahh don't worry about us sir, we can handle this easily."

He then went to get the trucks. "He's a good worker, but just a _little_ too boastful."

In the yards, Duke warned Albert to be careful on the Mountain Road, but only got the same response the manager got. The guard blew his whistle and Albert puffed out of the yards.

"This is too easy, too easy," he boasted. It might've been better if he hadn't been so boastful.

The Mountain Road had always been a difficult line, but it was worse in the winter. During that time, heavy packed snow, avalanches or rock slides could easily send an engine and it's train down the mountain in a hurry.

Albert's journey was smooth at first, but soon he began to struggle.

"Okay, maybe it's not so easy," he groaned.

"Keep it up old boy," called his Driver. "Once past the Mountain Road, the rest of the journey will be easy."

But they never made it. Snow was covering the line and freezing rain made it hard and slippery. Albert had just made it into the tunnel, unaware of the danger ahead.

One moment, he was on the tracks as he came out of the tunnel. Then the next moment, he came off the tracks, slid on the hard packed snow and plunged over the side.

"HHEELLPP!" Albert cried, but no one could.

His crew and the guard jumped out in time and watched as Albert and the train disappeared. All they heard after the cries was the howling wind. Then...

BOOM! BANG! CRASH! the noise echoed everywhere.

"Oh dear," groaned the fireman, "I hope Albert is okay."

"Judging by the sounds we just heard, I don't think he is," said the Driver.

They went to a cottage and called for help. Help could not come though until the blizzard had passed.

When it finally went away, crews were sent to find Albert while Duke went to get the crew and the guard. When they returned to the yards, they saw the workers with sad looks on their faces.

"Is Albert fixable?" the fireman asked.

The manager shook his head, "there was hardly anything left of your engine," he said, "just one of his nameplates is still intact."

A workmen showed the nameplate. The fireman fell to the ground and cried, the Driver kept muttering, "This can't be true," and Duke gave off a special whistle for Albert.

Sia and Yoshida were stunned and surprised when Duke had finished, but neither girl said a word.

"Well, I'm sure you can guess Stanley's fate," said Duke. "As for Albert, when spring came around, his remains were taken to the smelters and two more engines were bought for the line. One was an engine called Jim, he was our No 6, and the other...well, I'm sure you can guess who that was."

"Sir Handel?" Sia asked.

"Yes, but back then, he was called Falcon and painted in a darker shade of blue. He proved to be useful, but not even he could be like Albert."

"Hey guys!" called another voice. They all looked and saw Maggie all ready to go. "Sorry about the delay, but Peter Sam had a bad case of boiler sludge and we had to clean him out - nasty job that was. Yuck."

"Oh that's alright Maggie," said Sia, "We were just listening to a story from Duke."

"Really? Well you'll have to tell me that one..." she paused and looked at her own watch, "oh geez, we're really running late. You'll have to tell me on the way there."

Before leaving, Yoshida spoke to Duke, "thank you for telling us the story of Albert...and Stanley's downfall, I hope to hear more from you someday."

"Oh I'm sure you will youngster," Duke smiled.

"Come on Yoshida or we'll be late!" Maggie called out.

Yoshida said goodbye to the engines, then ran to join her friends. They boarded a stopping passenger train at the Crovan's Gate station and soon reached Vicarstown, just as the concert began. They had made it, just in time.

**Author's Note:**

Albert's fall off the Mountain side was inspired by a real life event where 'The Mountaineer' went flying off the mountains. Albert is of the same class Sir Handel and his twin; Sir Haydn are and was created by the Reverand Wilbert Awdry.

_**Robert**_

The following next day, as part of her day off, Edna was giving Nerine a tour of Wellsworth. Nerine had visited alot of places during her previous visit the year before, but somehow she missed Wellsworth.

"It's a very nice station," said Nerine, "I think this is quite lovely."

"Oh, but you haven't seen the best sights yet," Edna said proudly. "There's still the branch line itself and then there is the docks...say, have you met Bill and Ben yet?"

"No I haven't."

"Well just be careful around them. Too much attention and it goes straight to their smokeboxes."

At that moment, Edward arrived. He was to take a goods train down to the harbour, but he had to wait for a clear line. Normally BoCo or Salty would be right on time, but today they were late.

"The twins musy be holding them up again," sighed Charlie the Driver. "And if that's the case, it could be a while yet before either diesel arrives."

"Couldn't you just run on ahead and stop at the loop?" asked Edna.

"It's too risky," said Edward. "We don't know where they are, so we might end up having a head on collision with them and that would never do."

"Ah well, there's no shame in waiting," said Sid the fireman. "Plus it's a good thing Edward is not reckless, unlike that Robert."

"Who is Robert?" asked Nerine. She turned to her cousin, but Edna didn't answer.

"He was a spare engine that came to the Wellsworth Branch Line long before BoCo came to Sodor. He was a hard worker, but felt that he was better than the rest of us," Edward paused and chuckled, "That was until he met Bill and Ben."

"Uh oh, sounds likes trouble," Edna chuckled.

With some time on their hands, or buffers in Edward's case, the old engine told the two girls the story of Robert.

The year was 1956. The Wellsworth Branch line was becoming very busy. The Fat Controller had bought a new engine called Duck, but the Great Western Pannier Tank engine was often kept busy with shunting at the big station yards and doing other odd jobs, so he couldn't help Edward. The Fat Controller couldn't buy another engine at that time, so he borrowed one.

The engine looked alot like Thomas, but was much bigger and longer than him. Plus he had four front wheels, the six driving wheels and two wheels under his cab. He was one of three engines that had been built for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, but now he was the only one of his class left as his sisters 'Abergavenny' and 'Bessborough' were scrapped five years before.

Edward felt sorry for Robert and tried to be nice, but the engine spoke rudely to him, "What in the world is an old timer like you doing on this railway?"

"I help to carry passengers and goods," Edward answered calmly.

"Pah," snorted Robert. "I know your type very well and I know you can't do much. Your limited power is why you were replaced over there. If your controller has any sense, he'll scrap you and get engines like me; powerful, strong and fast."

"Well I never," exclaimed Edward, "what rudeness."

Edward puffed away with Robert shouting, "You might as well give it up old timer! You're too old to be useful!"

Robert said those same words to some of the other engines, but to others, he boasted about how good he was. This went to the point that whenever the engines passed Wellsworth, they wouldn't say a word.

"Ahh, they just don't understand," he boasted. "I'm better than they are any day."

One day, Robert took a train of empty china clay trucks down to the docks and was to return with a full train. When he arrived, he saw Bill and Ben hard at work. He snorted when he saw them, "what is this? Is this a harbour or a toy factory?"

"Excuse me?" Ben raised an eyebrow when he heard this.

"I did not expect to find toy engines running around here," he said rudely. "Can you even pull five trucks?" Bill was about to answer when Robert cut in, "You probably can't. Toy trains are not as powerful as I am. I can haul more trucks in one day than you two can in an entire year."

The twins were cross, but before they could retort, their crews drove them away. Robert just smirked.

"Oh I would love to teach that engine a lesson," grumbled Bill.

"So would I," agreed Ben.

The twins worked their hardest, but it wasn't good enough for Robert. He kept saying he could do better, "I'd probably be able to make the deliveries on time if I went down to the pits myself."

Hearing that gave the twins an idea on how they could pay Robert out.

When he returned later on, he started his boasting again. The twins looked at each other and pretended to be cross. "Well if you think you can do better, why don't you collect the clay yourself?"

"You know, that's not a bad idea. It would save time and prove how reliable I am to the Fat Controller." Robert buffered up to some empty trucks and started to push.

"Just watch out for the bridge!" called Ben.

But Robert didn't hear the warning. The twins knew he wouldn't and knew he would soon pay for that.

The bridge leading to the china clay pits is very low, but still tall enough for engines like Bill and Ben and their trucks to go underneath. Engines like Robert though were too tall to go under the bridge, so they are normally never allowed to go to the pits. Robert didn't know this, but he would soon enough.

They neared the bridge and as the first few trucks went under it, he suddenly realised it was too low. "Stop! Stop!" he cried. "For Pete's sake, Stop!"

The Driver at first didn't pay attention, cause he thought Robert was bossing him around again. When he saw the bridge though, he applied the brakes hard on.

Robert skidded along the rails, but his efforts were useless as he came to the bridge. The crew ducked for cover while Robert shut his eyes.

CRASH!

The noise was defeaning! The manager and several workmen ran over and saw Robert missing his funnel, dome and cab. Those were now laying on the other side of the bridge, all broken up. The manager checked to see if the crew were okay. They were, but they were in for a scolding and so was Robert.

Bill and Ben were called back to the pits and after being coupled up, they towed the damaged Robert back to the docks. Edward and the Fat Controller were waiting when they arrived.

"Oh my," gasped Edward, "what a mess."

The Fat Controller spoke sternly to Robert, "there is a reason I don't send engines like you down to the china clay pits and you just found out why the hard way."

"But I wasn't told of the bridge."

"No," said Bill, "we did warn you, but you ignored the toy trains as you called us."

"It's true sir," said Ben, "You can ask our crews, they heard our warning." Both Drivers and firemen agreed that they heard the warning.

"Well Robert, it seems that not only are you a rude engine, but you're also conceited and reckless. I can not have that on my railway. You'll be sent back and your owners will deal with you personally."

Robert gulped, he didn't look too pleased with himself now.

"Serves that silly engine right," smirked Edna when the story had finished.

Nerine nodded, but then asked, "What did happen to Robert after that?"

"Well after the damage he took on, his owner scrapped him," Edward answered. "He never learned sense anyays and if he was still running on the rails today, I don't think his attitude would be any different."

At that moment, BoCo came into view with full hoods and tankers, "Sorry I'm late Edward, but the twins would not stop boasting about an engine they dealt with years ago. They talked so much that the work slowed down."

"Hmm, I think I better go talk with them," said Edward.

With the line now clear, Edward could now leave. Nerine and Edna climbed onboard and then they set off to the docks.

**Author's Note:**

Robert is a fictional character as there were only two engines of his class ever built for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. Both engines sadly were scrapped in 1951 for bigger more powerful tank engines.

_**John the Police Engine**_

Gordon was resting in the sheds at Tidmouth with two young lads doing some inspections on him. The first lad was the son of Gordon's Driver, his name is Geoff. The other lad was the son of Henry's Driver, his name was Carl.

"Blimey Gordon, you're really knocking yourself to bits," said Geoff. "I swear one of these days, you're going to fall to pieces."

"I won't," Gordon yawned. "I'm a Gresley built engine and we were built to last. Why my cousin 'Silver Link' went for a grand total of three weeks without needing any maintenance."

"I know that Gordon, my family had worked on the LNER years ago and taught me all I know, but let's face the facts...you are not Silver Link and you need more maintenance than any other engine on Sodor."

Carl chuckled and just shook his head, he knew this was not true, but felt it best not to say anything.

At that moment, another engine came into the sheds. It was Seamus, the big logging engine. He had just finished his coal deliveries and was now going to have a rest and a good looking over before his next job. He was turned on the turntable and backed into his spot. When he stopped, a female figure could be seen climbing out of the cab.

"Hello Ayaka!" called Carl, "What brings you to the sheds?"

"Oh nothing really," she answered. "I was just feeling bored with nothing to do, so I decided to come to the sheds to see if I could talk to anyone."

"Well you could always talk to Gordon," said Geoff. "He's not going anywhere for a while."

Ayaka thought this was a great idea and sat down on a nearby box.

"Well I can tell you plenty of stories like when I helped James get up and over the hill or how about the time I rescued Thomas from a mine, or how about..."

"Try telling stories that have not been told already!" snapped Geoff.

Gordon grunted. "Those are good stories Gordon, but I have read them all in the Thin Clergyman and his son's books," Ayaka said kindly.

"Oh," muttered Gordon. He then thought back to an another interesting event, "have you heard the tale of John the Police Engine?"

"Who?" Geoff, Seamus and Ayaka asked in unison.

"I think I know the engine you're talking about," said Carl. "He was one of those Stanier Black 5s, good engines I can tell you. Do tell that story though Gordon."

Gordon did and here is the story he told.

Edward had been sent to the Works following the chase in which James had become a runaway, thanks to some silly stupid boys messing with his controls. Although his parts were worn out, Edward was still able to catch up with the red engine and allow his fireman to take control again. The Fat Controller promised Edward that he could get repaired at the Works as a reward, but now he was having trouble finding an engine to do Edward's work. Many of the Other Railways only had big powerful, but heavy tender engines to offer.

"They might be good on the main line," he would often say to them, "but they'll be too heavy for the Wellsworth Branch."

He then tried the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. "Do you have any engine that can take heavy loads, but can still run on branch lines?" The response he got made him smile, "splendid, he would be perfect. Yes we'll take good care of him. Alright then, thank you very much. Good day to you sir." He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, sighing happily.

On the day Edward left, the visitor arrived. He was a tender engine that was about the same size as Henry and almost looked just like the big green engine, except that this engine had a weather prove cab and was painted in black.

"Hullo,"said Gordon, "who might you be?"

"I'm No 44871, but my friends all call me John," he answered kindly. "I've come to help out while Edward is at the Crovan's Gate works. It's honor to be here and to meet all of you, I've heard about you all from the Thin Clergyman's books."

The engines warmed up to him, especially Bill and Ben. They didn't dare play any tricks on him. The trucks tried, like they always do, but soon found this to be a mistake. Despite being a light weight steam engine, John was a very strong engine. This worried the trucks cause they believed he would pull them apart.

One evening, John was talking with the other engines about the LMS when Percy stormed into the sheds, "I got bad news," he cried. "The Sodor museum has been robbed!"

"You and your tall tales," James grumbled. He and the other engines had heard Percy say such things before and thought he was telling tall tales again.

"It's true though," said Percy's Driver. "The stationmaster told us before we came back here. He said some thieves smashed a window, stole valuable antiques and stole one of their vintage cars to carry it all away."

The engines soon found this to be true as more reports came in about businesses and other public locations had been robbed, and every time, the reports say that the items were taken away in an antique car. The police often chased after these guys, but they always managed to disappear and escape.

That was due to change one evening.

John was running late. Bill and Ben had to bring down extra trucks for a large order of china clay and now, he was trying to make up for lost time.

As he puffed along, he heard the sounds of sirens and roaring car motors, "I wonder what's going on over there," John's Driver said out loud.

"Maybe people have gotten hurt and they're being rushed to the hospital," suggested the fireman.

John wasn't sure about that. He had heard the sirens of ambulances before and those sirens didn't sound like them. To John, they sounded like police sirens.

"I wonder if they're going after those thieves."

The police _were_ going after the thieves. They tried everything they could, but the thieves managed to outsmart them and stay ahead of them.

They were racing along and heading for a level crossing. John was just getting there when he saw the speeding cars. The thieves thought they could leave the officers in their dust, so they sped up to the crossing.

"The cheeks," muttered John. Then he came with an idea, "Kyle, speed us up to the crossing!"

"What?" the Driver asked, "You want to..." but then he saw the speeding cars and understood. Without wasting a second, he opened the regulator, making John's wheels go faster.

They roared towards the crossing, then John shouted, "Now Brake!"

The Driver slammed on the brakes and John went into a screeching, groaning slide. As they screeched along, the thieves had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the train.

The officers stopped behind them and ordered them out of the car. They had no way of getting away, so they surrendered without a fight.

John finally came to a stop with the last few trucks blocking the crossing.

"Did it work?" he asked.

The fireman looked back, "it worked, the officers got them."

A few minutes later, a police officer came over, "that was clever of you lot to speed up and then slam on your brakes," he said. "It blocked their escape and now we've recovered everything they had stolen." He then looked to John's wheels, "but it looks like you damaged your wheels."

The Driver climbed down from the cab and looked at the wheels. Sure enough, the steel rim tires on the wheels were flat on the bottom.

"All that skidding destoryed a part of your tires John."

"I was aware of that, but I just couldn't let those guys get away. They can't get away with what they have done."

"And thanks to you, they won't," said the officer. "Good work all of you, we'll be sure to tell your Controller of your good deed." He then went back to deal with the thieves while John puffed slowly away.

"Both the Fat Controller and his Controller came to the sheds to see him the next day," Gordon continued. "His Controller said that when he returns to the LMS, he and his crew would be given a hero's welcome. The Fat Controller gave the crew awards and John got a new coat of paint, and new tires of course," he chuckled. "And agmost everyone here, we all nicknamed John the police engine."

"So thats where he got the name from," said Carl. "I had been wondering about that ever since I learned about him."

"What about the thieves?" Geoff asked curiously.

"Well they served their time wisely in jail and we're charged with destruction to public property."

Ayaka got up from the box and stretched, "thank you for telling that story Gordon, I only wish I could've met that engine."

"Well I'm sure you will," Gordon smiled. "He did survive the scrap yards, being one of the surviving Black 5s in England, and last we heard, he was put back into service...makes me wonder something though."

"About what?" Carl asked.

Gordon chuckled, "I wonder if he's still helping the police."

"Who knows Gordon," Carl chuckled, "who knows."

_**87 & 98**_

One day, the weather got hot and mucky. Lots of people chose to go inside buildings with air conditioning instead of standing outside. Sia and Nerine were also indoors, but it wasn't for the same reason as everyone else. After hearing so much of the Thin Clergyman & his son's books, they decided to go buy some.

"Which ones did you pick out Rina?" Sia asked.

"I got one about Edward and the newest one featuring Victoria the Coach."

"Good picks," she then showed Nerine the four books she picked out. Two were about James the Red Engine, one was about the Small Railway and the fourth was the first book in the series.

"Might as well start from the beginning," chuckled Sia. She started looking threw the pages and soon, a confused look came to her face.

"Is something wrong Sia?" Nerine asked.

"No, I'm just confused...let's buy these books and go find one of the main line engines."

Nerine didn't understand of what was going on, but still, the two girls payed for the books they picked out and left the shop.

At Tidmouth, James was being given a washdown by Maggie and Yoshida while his crew were out getting lunch. James was just smiling, "it's nice to see you two working together for a change," he commented.

"James, don't go there," advised Yoshida firmly.

"No it's okay Yoshida, I'm not going to blow my temper off just because someone says that. No, I'm only going to lose my temper if I ever come across your three cousins and sister. They are long overdue for a..."

"Calm down Maggie," Yoshida and James said in unison.

"Sorry guys," Maggie quickly calmed down and went back to work.

A few minutes later, Sia and Nerine came walking into the sheds. "Hello Sia and Nerine," James called to them, "what brings you two here?"

"Answers," Sia said simply. She pulled out the book she had been looking threw before and showed James a picture of six engines in the old engine sheds. "I know four of the engines are Edward, Gordon, Henry and you James, but I don't know who the other two are."

"Well first of all, that's not me in that picture. That was Jeffrey, he was an engine sold in 1946 to get me," said James. "The other two I have not met, but I know what they were like and what they were called. They were 87546 and 98462, or 87 and 98 as many called them."

"They didn't have names?" asked Nerine, "I thought all engines had names."

"Well not them, not at all," James answered. "They were so spiteful, rude and reckless that the Fat Director didn't bother giving them names."

"You mean the first Sir Topham Hatt right?" asked Maggie curiously.

"Yep, that would be him."

"So what happened to those two?" Sia asked. "I haven't seen them in any of the other books or seen them on the railway."

"I can answer that for you," said another voice. Everyone looked and saw James' driver, along with the fireman, coming into the sheds. "My grandfather on my mom's side was 87's Driver and we've all been told of what happened to those two engines."

Everyone went quiet at once and the Driver began to tell the story...

In 1945, the Fat Director had about seven engines running on the North Western Railway. He had Thomas, who was a shunter at the time, then there were Edward, Gordon and Henry. The red engine, better known as Jeffrey, was a hard worker and very well respected. The Other Railway wanted an engine like him to teach the younger engines and it was announced that year that Jeffrey would be traded for another engine.

Then there were the other two engines. Both were big blue tender engines with red stripes. Both were ten wheelers with four front wheels and six driving wheels. Both engines had come from the LNER and had been working on the North Western for years.

These engines though were not nice - if anything, they were rude, reckless and often full of themselves. They felt that they were the superior engines and as a result, they would be very rude to the other engines.

"Hurry up slowpoke!" 87 shouted to Thomas one day. "At the pace you go, you're going to make me late."

"Don't blow a stack 87, I'm working as fast as I can."

"Well it's not fast enough. The Fat Director should get a bigger and faster shunter to do this work."

"And what about me?" Thomas asked.

"I couldn't care less for a pathetic tank engine like you."

Thomas was offended and once the coaches were shunted into place, he puffed crossly away while 87 snickered. He went to a nearby water tower where he found Edward.

"Hello Thomas, what's gotten you so upset today?"

"Oh it's that stupid 87, he called me 'pathetic' and said the Director should replace me."

"Well I can understand how you feel, 98 said that I should be in the scrap yards considering how old I am."

"Bother those two," Thomas growled and let off steam angerily.

"Don't let them get to you Thomas, the Director would never get rid of us, we're far too reliable to be replaced." Hearing that cheered Thomas up. "Besides, one of these days, those two engines will get their just desserts."

At the big station, 87 was backing down onto the coaches, but he was going too fast. "Slow down boy!" shouted his Driver and tried to slow him down. It did no good though, 87 banged right into the coaches.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" groaned the coaches, "that hurts!"

"Oh shut up!" snapped 87, "I've had enough with your complaining."

"We wouldn't be complaining if you and 98 were careful with us," they sobbed. "Even Henry, who is stuck in that tunnel, isn't as bad as you two."

"Poh!" scoffed 87, "we're far better engines that those so called engines."

"That will do boy," his Driver said firmly.

87 snorted and waited for the passengers to board the coaches. He tried to hurry them up, but it did no good as he was told to be quiet and wait. At last, they were ready to go. The guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag, "Finally!" and 87 took off with a huge jerk. He was moving so fast that the guard couldn't get into his van.

"87, slow down!" shouted his Driver, "we're not running late, so there's no reason to rush."

But 87 took no notice of his Driver or the guard's whistle as he tried to get back onto the train, but to no avail. It would've been better had he paid attention.

He headed down the main line, heading for the tunnel where Henry had been bricked up. As he roared towards the other tunnel, he thought he heard another engine's whistle. "Must be 98 with his goods," thought 87 to himself. "Probably whistling to say I can pass."

But he was wrong, for coming out of the tunnel on the single line was 98. The Drivers slammed on the brakes, but the weight of their trains kept them moving along. The Drivers and firemen made a mad jump from the cab's while their engines screamed in horror.

"Oh I can't look," groaned Henry and shut his eyes.

There was a terrible crash as the two engine collided with each other. The passengers in the coaches were bounced about like popcorn when it's being popped, while some of the trucks and coaches bumped and banged about before becoming derailed.

Henry opened his eyes and looked at the accident site, "Cor Blimey, what a mess," he gasped.

The crews weren't hurt, so they went down the line to phone for help.

The breakdown gang soon arrived to clear up the mess. The passengers were seen to, luckily there weren't any serious injuries. Which is more than could be said for 87 and 98, their front ends had been badly damaged and twisted in odd angles.

The Fat Director soon arrived and after apologizing to the passengers, he spoke with 98 and 87's crews, "how did this happen?"

"Well sir, we were rushing," said 87's Driver, "but we were allowed to go once all the passengers were on board."

"It was all our fault," said 98's fireman, "our engine just would not stop complaining about being on time, so we took off earlier than we were suppose to. We did not mean to hurt people though."

"Well there were some injuries, but it wasn't serious," said the Fat Director. "I will forgive you lot for this, but not your engines." He then walked over to 87 and 98, "you two have always been rude and troublesome engines and I had a strong feeling that this would happen to you one day."

"Don't blame me," snapped 87, "those passengers and that stupid Thomas slowed me down."

"The stupid trucks held me back," said 98, "and I was trying to make it on time. If it hadn't been for your stupid Henry and the signalmen, I would've made it to the yards with no trouble."

The Fat Director shook his head, "this accident was your fault and you know it. I've warned you two to be better engines, but it seems that the message hasn't sunk in. This is the last straw, I've had quite enough with your antics and attitudes. I will have Thomas and Jeffrey take you back to the Other Railway tomorrow and they will deal with you."

"You mean, just for repaires right?" asked 98.

"No, I'm sending you back there for good. I can not have engines who are reckless and troublesome on my railway. Maybe this will finally teach you to behave."

And with that, the Fat Director turned on his heel and left to make the arrangements.

"The crews were given warnings and given new jobs," continued James' Driver. "While their engines went back to the Other Railway and after some time, they were scrapped. Last we heard, they didn't see any sense and continued being who they were to their final working days."

"Serves them right," muttered Maggie. "If I had been around back then, I would've given those engines a lesson."

"Maggie," exclaimed Sia.

"I think everyone wanted to do that," said Maggie's Father, "but they did get their lesson, like it or not." He then added, "which they _did_ deserve."

Everyone nodded in agreement, especially Sia and Nerine, who now had the answers to their questions about the mystery engines.

**Author's Note:**

The Head On Collision outside of Henry's tunnel was inspired by an original movie showing a test where two steam engines on the same tracks went crashing into each other. 87546 is based on the B17 class engines and 98462 is based on the B12 class engines, both are LNER engines and were created by the Rev. W. Awdry.

_**The End!**_


	39. Jack the Swedish Engine

**I know it's been a few months since I last posted a new volume for the Railway Series/Shuffle, but that's mostly because I've been busy with lots of projects and this book proved to be more difficult than I thought. Finally though, I'm proud to present this all new volume to all of you. A little note here, the events in Story 4 may seem unrealistic, but it can actually happen to a steam engine. **

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 39**_

_**Jack the Swedish Engine**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_When Nina arrived, she became the replacement of Shamus following his disasterious crash and since the railway was short one engine, and the Man in the Suit didn't want to keep borrowing engines, he went out to find another engine. He found a grey tender engine named Jack, but when he arrived, Jack had all sorts of problems come his way. These stories tell you of what happened to him when he first arrived, and I hope you will enjoy meeting him._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Jack

-Feeling Stuffy

-Broken Parts & Wrong Turns

-Too Much Pressure

_**Jack**_

Jack is a grey pacific steam engine, meaning that he has four front wheels, six driving wheels and two wheels under the cab. He also has two curved ploughs under his front buffer beam, a small funnel on top of his smokebox, a very big dome and his tender was curved towards the bottom. He was built as one of mnay engines needed for the Swedish State Railway. The pacifics were powerful with any train they pulled and were very kind to their crews. Not one of them was disrespectful.

They mostly pulled passenger trains, but were not afraid of doing shunting duties. Like on one day, Jack saw a small engine struggling with her shunting duties, "here young one, I'll give you a hand."

"But you don't have hands," she said in a confused manner.

"It's just a figure of speech," he chuckled. "It just means that I'll help you with this work."

"Oh no you don't have to do that, I'll..."

But the smaller engine didn't finish as Jack went to work shunting trucks. Together, the two engines puffed backwards and forwards with the trucks until a train was ready to go.

"All done here," said Jack's Driver. "And with time to spare."

"Thank you so much, uh..."

"Jack, me friends all call me Jack."

"Well thank you Jack, you're a real credit to the railway."

And she wasn't the only one who believed that. The Swedish State Controller had been watching and was very proud of Jack, "I'm glad I had those class F engines built."

Yes, Jack had a very good life on the Swedish State railway - but sadly, it wasn't going to last forver.

The trouble began in 1931 when his Driver had passed away, due to an illness. He did get a new Driver, but he wasn't really a friendly man and was rude to both him and the fireman. Passengers on the express trains often said he would open the regulator too quickly upon starting and would slam the brakes on, making the coaches bump into Jack's tender.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" screamed the coaches, "That was too rough."

Soon afterwords, newer engines started coming to the railway, but they weren't steam engines. These were Electric engines that would get their power from overhead wires. Several lines had these overhead wires, but as long as they were 'on', the steam engines could not use the lines.

"Well that's a real blow," said Helen, another class F class. "If we can't run there or anywhere, we might as well be sent off for scrap."

At the time, no one took the words seriously - but that would change many years later.

More and more electric engines started coming in and the steam engines were seen less and less. Whenever they were running, they would be taking over for a failed train or hauling goods.

Then, came World War II. Many of the 'F' class engines were sold off to a Danish railway where they were over to class 'E' engines to help with the war efforts. The rest of the Class 'F' engines however had been retired by 1936 with only a couple still rolling on the rails. Jack, of course, was one of them.

"You might've been good in your time steamer," one of the electrics shouted to him. "But this is our time, so why don't you just give up?"

"As long as I have steam in my pistons, I won't give up!" he shouted back and puffed away in a cloud of steam.

He had alot of determination, but that couldn't save him in the end.

"So much for not giving up," snickered an electric engine. "Management doesn't seem to want you anymore, they prefer electrics."

Jack sighed unhappily, "oh well, it's been a good run."

Respectfully, the electric engine didn't say anything as it rattled away.

Every day after that, Jack witnessed moments that no one should see - the scrapping of steam engines. One by one, the steamers were cut up by the gas axe, then the pieces were loaded up and taken away to be melted down and used again.

Then came the day of Jack's scrapping, "you're the only one that's left," said the scrapper, "but not for long."

He lit the gas axe and walked over to Jack's left hand cylinder.

"End of the line," sighed Jack. He shut his eyes and prepared for the cutting.

"Stop!" shouted a voice.

Both Jack and the scrapper looked to see the scrapyard manager, along with a tall skinny man walking up to them.

"What's the meaning of this?" asked the scrapper. "I have a job to do."

"Actually, you don't today," said the manager. "Cause Mr. Algy Ferguson here has just bought this engine."

"What for?"

"For preservation of course," said Mr. Ferguson. "I want to show people what an engine like him looks like and what he can do."

The scrapper was confused. "You got a strange mind sir, no offence, but nobody wants to see steam engines."

"You be surprised young man. Now please, put that gas axe out."

The scrapper did as he was told, then another engine came to tow him away.

"Consider yourself lucky me boy," said Mr. Ferguson. "You have now become the latest steamer to return to the rails."

"Oh thank goodness for that."

"What is your name?"

"It's Jack."

"Well Jack, we'll soon have you restored and ready for railtours in no time."

Mr. Ferguson was right. After the work on him was done, he pulled rail tour trains across Sweden with coaches that were nearly as old as him. He enjoyed the runs, especially when he saw young faces watching him go by.

"It's good to see that so many people still care," he thought happily to himself and blew off a happy whistle for the crowds.

Jack thought that he would be a railtour engine forever, but not even that wasn't to be the case. In 1969, Mr. Ferguson had been killed when his plane crashed into the ocean after it had suffered some failures. After that, no one took over his job and Jack was left inside an old workshop. Unable to move, unable to steam and with no one to talk to. He was all alone.

"Oh dear," he thought sadly, "what will become of me now?"

For over thirty years, the answer never came. It seemed that the world had just lost another engine and would fade away forever.

In 2009, it was all going to change.

The Man in the Suit, Controller of the Little Tokyo Railroad was in need of another engine since Nina had taken over for Shamus, who had been turned into a pumping engine following a very serious accident. He was looking for an express engine, who could also pull goods.

A worker had told him about an engine from Sweden, "he used to pull railtours all the time," he said. "That was until the man in charge of his tours had been killed in a plane crash. The engine disappeared after that and I bet he's still in the workshops he lived at."

After learning of where the workshop was, the Man in the Suit went to Sweden.

He and a friend from Sweden went to the shops and there, they found him.

"Who are you?" Jack asked nervously.

"A friend," answered the Man in the Suit. He and the friend looked Jack over, "well he'll need some repair work and probably an overhaul, but overall, he looks pretty good."

His friend looked inside the boiler and minutes later, spoke with the Man in the Suit with a shocked look.

"His boiler is in very good shape sir, I don't think he needs a major overhaul at this given time."

"Interesting," smiled the Man in the Suit. "He may be just the engine we've been looking for."

"Am I going to become a railtour engine again?"

"Not at all, you'll become a part of my railway, which hauls both goods and passengers. We'll have you fixed up, then you'll be taken to Tokyo, where you'll be put to work."

"Oh how wonderful...uh, what's your name?"

"I'm called the Man in the Suit, controller of the Little Tokyo Railroad," he answered. "And what can I call you?"

"My name is Jack sir."

"Very well Jack, you will become the latest member of the Little Tokyo Fleet. Once you've been give some repairs."

The Man in the Suit's friend promised that he would get Jack ready for work. They shook hands, then left to make arrangements. For Jack, he was just happy to be given another chance to work.

_**Feeling Stuffy**_

_**Based on "Funnel Trouble" by "Christopher Awdry"**_

Jack spent another cold lonely night in the old workshops, recalling his old days and wondered of what his new home would be like.

In the morning, the doors were opened and Jack saw several flatbeds coming towards him with one of the modern electric engines pushing them in. "Hullo there, you must be the steam engine I heard about," he said kindly.

"Yes I am," Jack said, feeling a little uneasy around this engine.

"I think it's a shame that you were left in here for all these years. Steam engines in me view should be seen in action, not rotting away, hidden from the world."

Jack smiled, at least this engine was kind, unlike the other engines he had met in the past.

Mr Fritz, the Man in the Suit's Swedish friend, came into the shops next.

"Sorry for the little delay Jack, but we had to lay down new rails outside the shops."

"Oh that's alright, I'm just glad to finally be coming out."

The electric engine, otherwise known as Lenny, pushed the trucks forwards, then the workmen coupled them up and he pulled Jack out of the workshops. His wheels groaned as they turned, "oh I'm so stiff," groaned Jack.

"Well you haven't moved in years," said Lenny. "So that's bound to happen."

Jack was taken along the main line and was soon backed into a big building where lots of workmen were waiting for him.

"We'll soon have you working again," they said.

Jack said goodbye and thank you to Lenny, then the electric engine went off to do some other work.

The workmen began their work, repatching rusty bits and scrapping old worn out equipment. Jack's small restoration was going well, but not everyone in the shops were pleased to see Jack.

"I don't know why they are wasting time with that piece of rubbish," said one worker.

"It beats me brother," said another worker. Both men were working on an electric engine in the stall next to Jack's. "That Man in the Suit must be very stupid if he wants a steamer."

"If he had any sense, he would go for electric engines, they are better."

"Yeah, that man must be pretty stupid."

Mr. Firtz had overheard them and stormed over towards them, looking very cross. "How dare you two little idiots insult my friend and his railway like that! He likes running steam as well as diesels because they can be useful for any work they are doing. Now, don't ever say such things like that again, otherwise I'll make sure your names become mud!"

"Yeah whatever," they chuckled rudely and went back to work.

Mr Fritz sighed unhappily as he turned to leave. "I swear if you two weren't me brother's sons, I would fire you," but he said it only to himself. Mr. Fritz's brother was a railway inspector and did not like hearing bad things about his sons. He had already made it clear, any bad words and the complaining person would lose their jobs. So, as you can imagine, no one was eager to say anything about the two men.

Later that evening, all the workmen had gone home and the only electric engine had been sent back to work. Jack was on his own, but he was happy.

"Won't be long now," he yawned and went happily to sleep.

Unknown to him, two young men came into the workshops with tools in hand.

"Let's see how much they'll like this engine when it can't work properly."

It was the two rude men who insulted Jack and his future railroad, they were eager to see Jack go into the scrap heap.

"Time to get to work," snickered the other brother.

And they did too. They worked throughout the night, sabotaging alot of the work that had been done, unknown to Jack, who was still asleep. The men were soon finished and left, smirking the entire time.

When morning came, their father did an inspection on Jack.

"He's good to go," he said cheerfully.

Mr Firtz wasn't enterily sure if Jack was ready, especially after seeing the smirks on the two young men's faces. He could tell they had been up to no good lately, but he couldn't prove it at this time.

"Okay then, we'll send him toTokyo. But if I should recieve enough phone calls about this engine not working properly, I _will_ deal with you three once and for all."

"Yeah whatever," snickered the two young men.

Jack was soon taken out of the shops, lifted onto a ship, and arrived at the City of Tokyo within a matter of days. He was given a big welcome by those who were there.

When he began work, Jack did not feel well.

"I feel all stuffed up in the funnel, I can't seem to breathe properly."

His new Driver and fireman checked him over, but could find nothing wrong.

"You must have a clog in your tubes," said his fireman. "Strange that they weren't cleaned out before you arrived, but we'll clean them out this evening, that should help."

"You should just like me when I have a cold," chuckled the Driver.

Jack wished he could find the funny side. He did give it all he had as he worked, but whatever was clogged was making him work slowly and make him late with his deliveries.

"Not a very good first impression Driver," said the Warehouse District's manager.

"Don't blame us sir, something is keeping our engine from working properly."

From where he was, Ken could see the lack of smoke coming out of Jack's funnel.

The Swedish engine was turned around and placed in front of another train.

Rin and Asa were just walking past and decided to talk with the newcomer. They were most concerned by how sick he looked.

"Maybe you should stay here and have the workmen look you over," Ken said kindly to him. "I'll take your load for you."

"That's kind of you to offer, but I think I can manage this load."

"That's the spirit," cheered Asa. "Don't you ever give up."

"Well okay, but be careful out there," Ken advised.

It wasn't long before Masuko and Nayuki had Jack's trucks loaded, "You're all set to go partner!" called Masuko.

The Driver opened the regulator, blew the whistle and Jack puffed 'sluggishly' out of the Warehouse District.

"Good luck Jack!" Rin and Asa called out in unison. Jack did his best, but found out that going fast was impossible.

"Steady Boy," called out his Driver, "don't go putting yourself out of action."

"I'm trying me best, but it's not easy."

He struggled on, wheel turn by wheel turn, he was determined to get his goods to the dock on time.

At the docks, lots of people were getting off an ocean liner, after a long trip. Nina was there too with the three coaches: Nadoka, Layla and a grumpy Ayumi.

"She's like this all the time," Nadoka groaned to Layla. "Everytime we get a new coat of paint, she always complains and grumbles."

"Always," sighed Layla.

The Man in the Suit was also at the dockyards. He was waiting for Jack to arrive. "Fifteen minutes late," he said, checking his watch. "Where could he be?"

"I think I can see him now sir," said Nina.

Light puffs of smoke could be seen in the distance. Five minutes later, Jack finally pulled into the docks, looking worse than he did before.

"Are you alright?" Nina asked.

"No...I...ahh!" Suddenly, without warning, something shot out of Jack's funnel, flying high into the air, then falling back down on everyone. The coaches, the engines and even the passengers were covered in dirty, smelly soot.

"My new dress is ruined," cried one of the passengers.

"My suit is dirty!" cried another.

"And my paintwork is dirty now," sobbed Ayumi. She then scolded Jack, "You stupid engine! This was a fresh coat of paint and now you've come and ruined it completely!"

All the passengers started shouting at Jack and his crew.

The Man in the Suit spoke with the crew, then he ran to Nina's cab and blew her whistle loudly. That silenced everyone.

"We are deeply sorry for all of this, but this was not the fault of the crew or our new engine Jack," he said to them. "Clearly, this was someone's idea of a joke. The soot and rubbish was put into the funnel before he arrived, and the extra effort of pulling the trucks unjammed it and made it fly out. We will pay for the ruined clothes and anything else that was ruined. Again, we are sorry."

"Yes and I'm sorry too," Jack said with a smile. He didn't sound stuffy anymore.

The passengers excepted the apology and left to board Nina's coaches.

By now, Jack was feeling much better and was blowing plenty of smoke out of the funnel.

"While although it wasn't good for everyone here, I think this did you a world of good Jack," said his Driver. "You're steaming well now and you should have no further troubles."

_**Broken Parts & Wrong Turns**_

One evening, Kaede, Rin & Primula were visiting the Little Tokyo sheds and having friendly chats with Courtney, Li & Nina. All of the sudden, they saw Jack backing into the sheds.

"Had a good..." but Li was cut off as he saw Luke shunting the Swedish engine into the sheds.

"What happened to you Jack?" Kaede asked.

"One of the sidewalls on my firebox came loose and wind blew out my fire, leaving us stranded on the main line."

The Driver climbed down and looked at the now cool firebox. "From what I'm seeing here, the wall was cut with a torch, leaving only little bits of metal holding that wall up."

"I've heard of cutting corners, but this is rediculous," said Jack's fireman.

The Driver just shook his head, "first was the clogged funnel, then his siderods fall off and now this. I don't think those workers were doing anything to repair Jack."

The Man in the Suit was thinking the same thing and made a stern phone call to Mr Firtz.

"I am very surprised at this," he was saying. "You usually produce good work, but I haven't seen any of that with Jack."

Mr Fritz sighed on the other end of the phone. "I am sorry about this old friend, it seems that two young idiots _did_ mess with Jack. I'm going to seriously tear them and me stupid brother apart. In the meantime though," he continued, "I can always send workers there to repair Jack."

"Thank you, but you don't need to do that, we can handle any repaires that need to be done."

"Well if you're sure, but don't forget that we can help anytime you need us."

"I'll keep that in mind." He hung up the phone, leaned back on his chair and sighed, "bakas, they seem to get everywhere."

Workmen spent most of the night working on Jack. They put up a new wall on the right side of his firebox and checked the left side, just to be on the safe side. Then they cleaned out all his tubes and even polished his whistle.

Dawn soon came and so did Jack's crew.

"We're going to take passengers to the Transfer Point station this morning," the Driver said to him. "The Man in the Suit wants to see how you'll do on passenger runs."

"Oh passenger trains, that would be lovely," smiled Jack. "I haven't pulled passenger trains in years."

"Well once you're fire up, we'll collect those coaches," said the fireman.

Ayumi was refusing to be taken by Jack and slipped her brakes on to make sure everyone knew she was serious. So in the end, Jack took the former Great Western coaches.

"If he blows off any rubbish at you, bump him," Ayumi said to the coaches.

"No don't!" snapped Nadoka. "You'd most likely hurt your passengers. So don't listen to Ayumi."

"She's just mad over what happened at the docks," added Layla.

Ayumi growled, but didn't say a single word.

Jack took the coaches to the station. The people got in, the guard's whistle blew and Jack pulled smoothly out of the station. He had a smooth run all the way and reaches the Transfer Point Station in record time.

"Not bad and no problems have come up," commented the fireman. "I guess the workmen have sorted out all of the problems."

But as they would find out, they hadn't sorted out _all_ the problems with Jack.

Around noon, the city streets were calm and peaceful. But it soon disappeared with the sounds of sirens and roaring car motors. Moments later, a speeding car came into view, followed by five police crusiers.

"This must be a cruel joke," said one of the officers, who had a television crew riding along with him. "I was going to tell him that his left tail light is out, and he takes off on me. I mean, that's nothing to run away for."

The police were doing the best they could to catch up to him, but he was proving to be too fast.

At this time, Ms. Ama was walking home after getting groceries, when she saw the speeding car driving too close to the sidewalk. Then, it drove onto it and was heading straight for her.

"Look out!" cried a voice and a hand grabbed the back of her blue apron, pulling her out of the way, just in time.

"Oh thank you so much miss."

"You're welcome." very faintly, Ms. Ama could see a female face in the shadows.

Ms Ama turned and left, "she looked very familar," she thought only to herself.

Meanwhile the chase continued on down the busy streets, then the speeding car made a bizzare move. Instead of going straight, the Driver turned left, crashed threw the fence, rolled down the hill, bumped over the tracks and raced off into the distance.

One officer followed, but didn't get far. He rolled onto the tracks and stopped.

"What in blazes? Why aren't we going?"

"I'm stuck on the tracks," answered the police car.

They were indeed stuck. The officer and his partners tried everything they knew to get the police car off the tracks, but it was no use.

"Oh bother and blow," groaned the officer. "I get stuck and the bad guy gets away, I can't see this situation getting any worse."

Peep! Peep!

He had spoken too soon as they all heard a whistle in the distance.

"Come on, we got to get the car off the tracks!" The officers tried again while another officer ran down the tracks to warn the engine and it's crew.

The engine in question was Jack. He had done quite well with the passenger runs and was now taking a goods train to the Warehouse District. Although by now, he wasn't feeling too good.

"I feel as though something is about to fall off," he said to his crew.

"Well hopefully if it can stay in place for now, we can secure it at the..." the fireman trailled off as he looked down the tracks. "Uh, you might want to stop now."

"Why?" asked the Driver.

"Cause there's a police officer coming down our tracks."

The Driver leaned out the window and not only did he see the police officer, but he saw the police car.

"Oh for crying out loud!" he went to the brake handle, but before he could use it, there came a loud bang!

"OW!" cried Jack.

Steam leaked out in a bad way and his speed decreased down to a crawl. Finally, he came to a stop with a jolt.

The officer ran up to the cab, "it's a good thing you stopped," he said to the crew. "One of our cars has gotten stuck on your tracks."

"Yes we saw it," said the Driver. "But this is not how we planned on stopping."

"Why do you say that?"

"Something broke on Jack, not sure what it was."

While the crew looked Jack over, the other officers had managed to get the police car off the tracks, with little damage done to it.

"Sorry about this guys," said the car's Driver. "I didn't mean to let the guy get away."

Just then, they got a call on the radio. "I don't think you need to worry about that guy," said another officer. "Just go down the road and you'll see what I mean."

It turned out that while the guy was able to run over the tracks, he wasn't able to run over a ditch, and now, his car was on it's roof and he was trapped inside.

"Okay buddy," said the first officer, "why did you run away from us?"

"Cause I don't have a license."

The officer was shocked, "are you serious? You risked everyone's lives because you don't have a driver's license? Are you that stupid buddy?"

"I guess I am," he sulked.

Once the door was cut off, the men was arrested and taken off to jail. His car was moved onto a flatbed and taken to the scrap yard.

On the railway, Luke had arrived to help Jack. He was coupled on in front and pulled the broken down Swedish engine and his train to the Warehouse District.

"What happened this time?" Ken asked when they arrived.

"A steam pipe had burst," answered the Driver. "And with all that steam escaping, he didn't have the power he needed to continue."

"Good thing too, considering there was a police car on our tracks," added the fireman.

Ken raised an eyebrow when he heard this, but didn't look too surprised. "Never mind Jack, we'll have you repaired and back out on the main line in no time."

"Thanks Ken," sighed Jack. "I just can't believe my rotten luck so far. I wonder what's next."

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by two events. The first is where a police officer got his car stuck on the railway tracks and had to wave to the engineer of the train to warn him. The train was diverted onto another line and the car was moved off the tracks, with a little help from other officers. The second event was of a close call when a driver, who didn't have a license, ran and nearly hit a police car. He was soon caught and arrested, thankfully nobody had gotten hurt.

_**Too Much Pressure**_

Following the incident with the steam pipe bursting, Jack ended up spending most of his time down at the workshops. The Man in the Suit already informed Mr Fritz and he was already in the process of dealing with his brother and his two sons. However, it soon became clear that the sabotage work was the least of Jack's problems.

"His boiler may look like it's in good shape," said a workman. "But upon futher inspection, it's not, he's going to need a major overhaul."

The Man in the Suit was dismayed, "we can't afford to have Jack overhauled right now. Most of the money has been spent on repairing the damages caused by the Tokyo Terrors."

"Well he can run for a while, but I wouldn't recommand pushing him too hard."

So in the end, Jack was put on as shunting engine until further notice.

The engines and their friends all felt sorry for Jack. "He seems to be a kind engine with lots of determination, but he is an unlucky engine too," sighed Courtney. "All the things that could go wrong with a steam engine is happening to him."

Primula was worried for him too, "what if he can't work anymore? The Man in the Suit wouldn't scrap him. Would he?"

"Bless you no, he's a kind man, he would never do that to a steam engine," said Big Mac.

"What about Shamus?" Rin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh that's different," answered Li. "Shamus deserved what he got. Jack on the other hand is different. I'm sure the Man in the Suit will sort out his problems soon enough."

"I hope so," said Primula, still with a worried tone in her voice. "Cause I don't want to see that happen to an engine."

At this time, the Man in the Suit was in his office and on the phone, "he's been having nothing but problems since he came here," he was saying. "I know he needs a complete overhaul, but we just don't have enough money for him."

The person on the other end of the phone said something, which brought a smile to the Man in the Suit's face.

"You'd really do that for us? Oh thank you sir, and I promise we will pay you back. Oh, you would like Jack to work for you for a while? Well I don't see a reason why not, it's a deal. Alright then, thank you again. Good day sir."

He hung up the phone and leaned back happily in his chair.

The next day, the worst of the rainy season arrived. Torrential downpours made for an unpleasant day, but work continued on as normal.

Jack was in the yards shunting when the yard foreman came over.

"We need your services Jack," he said. "There's a passenger train due to go to the Transfer Point Station and there are no other engines available."

"I don't know if I can help sir, the Man in the Suit asked me to do shunting," Jack said worringly. "Besides, I don't know if I can do long runs in my state."

"I'm sure the Man in the Suit wouldn't mind if you helped, regardless of your condition. It's either that or the passengers are in for a long wait."

Jack knew they couldn't keep the passengers waiting, so he talked with his crew, then went to get the coaches.

"Oh joy," groaned Ayumi. "We got Mr. Dirty Smoke taking us out today."

Nadoka and Layla sighed, but said nothing to their sister.

Jack coupled up gently to the coaches, then took them to the platform. All the passengers boarded the coaches, then after the guard's whistle blew, they set off.

"Just do your best boy," called his Driver. "That's all we can ask from you."

"I'll do my best. I'll do my best," panted Jack.

During the run, the fireman kept an eye on the steam pressure. He had been told to keep an eye on it by the workmen since Jack was not in the best of shape. According to them, if the pressure got higher than the limit they told him, the boiler _could_ explode. Sadly, the fireman forgot the number they told him and this would result in trouble.

Jack reached the Transfer Point Station, just as Ami and Yumi, the Japanese high speed engines arrived.

"Good work boy, now you can rest before our trip home."

He only had ten minutes to rest, but Jack didn't mind, he was just glad to be useful again. At last, the passengers were on board with a loud 'Peep!' Jack was away.

On the way back, he started to feel a little odd.

"I'm starting to feel a little stuffy," he told his crew.

"Your tubes must be clogged again," said the Driver. "We'll clean you out..."

BANG!

There was a loud explosion and a sudden jerk. A fireball emerged from Jack's funnel, blowing it right off and steam started leaking out badly.

"Oww!" cried Jack.

His Driver stopped the train, then both he and the fireman inspected Jack.

"Kendall, you baka!" snapped the Driver. "You weren't watching Jack's steam pressure, and now look what's happened. You're lucky the boiler didn't explode."

"But it was under the limit, I checked."

The Driver went to the cab, then returned angerily, "under normal pressure yes, but not what the workmen told you."

The fireman groaned, "I'm sorry Leo, I forgot."

"Fine time for you to forget. Now we'll have to call for help."

"No," gasped Jack. "I'm not giving up, I will take the train home alone."

The crew looked at him with shocked looks. "Have you lost your mind?" asked the fireman. "If we keep going, your boiler could explode!"

"I got to try, I can't let the passengers down."

The crew were not enterily sure, "I've heard from that boy Drew that a few engines have come home crippled and they never gave up."

The Driver and fireman talked it over, then spoke to their engine.

"It's a large risk boy, but if we can keep the steam pressure under control, then we might be able to make it back without your boiler exploding. But that's a big _might_."

They climbed back into the cab and started again. It wasn't easy to drive a crippled engine, but they managed it.

Ayumi was impressed with Jack's determination, "go to it Jack, you're doing great!"

Nadoka and Layla were surprised, but soon they joined in the cheering. Even the passengers joined in. "You can do it Jack! You can do it!"

"I can do it, I can do it!" it hurt Jack alot, but he forged bravely on ahead.

The Man in the Suit was pacing the platform and checking his watch. "Jack's running late, I sure hope nothing's happened to him."

PEEP! PEEP!

He looked down the platform and gasped as Jack came in. His face was green, steam was leaking out badly and his funnel didn't look the same. "What in blazes happened this time?" exclaimed the Man in the Suit.

"Blazes seems to be the right word," gasped Jack.

The Driver and fireman explained everything, then the passengers told the Man in the Suit of the journey.

"It was scary, but your engine continued on and got us here. He's a real credit to your railway. You must be proud of him, we sure are." They then cheered loud and long, nearly raising the roof.

The Man in the Suit smiled, "yes, I am proud of him."

Jack's fire was put out and Luke took him to the sheds.

"I've heard of engines blowing their stacks, but never have I seen it for myself," said Li. Even Drew, who was visiting, couldn't believe the damage that had been done.

The Man in the Suit came into the sheds, "that was a big risk you took Jack, but you did great and brought the train home. Well done my engine."

"Thanks sir, but I don't think I'll be doing that again."

"Well after your overhaul, you won't need to do that again."

"Overhaul sir?" Li and Drew asked in unison.

"Yes, Sir Topham Hatt of the North Western Railway has offered to have you restored at his Steamworks and all he's asking for is that you work for his railway for a short period of time."

"Oh sir, that would be lovely."

"Excellent, you will be loaded onto a ship for Sodor tomorrow."

The next morning, Jack was taken to the docks and was loaded up onto the ship. After hearing about the previous day's run, Rick the Crane kept quiet. All of Jack's friends came to see him off.

"Good luck on Sodor Jack!" they called. "Come home soon."

"I will my friends, don't you worry, I will be back," he smiled.

This was met by cheers, whistles and horns. All of his friends were going to miss him, but were looking forward to the day he returns.

Still, I bet you're wondering about Mr. Fritz's brother and his sons. Well, the brother was fired and now works as a fast food server. As for his sons, they were charged and arrested for damaging public property. They too were fired from their jobs. Hopefully when they get out, they'll learn not to be so stupid.

_**The End!**_


	40. Little Tokyo Cousins

_**Hi there loyal readers, it's another new year and here's another new volume, the 40th one I should add. I'd also like to say that January 2014 marks 5 years since this fan-made series began. It's amazing how a small idea that popped into my head after watching Shuffle would turn into a series like this. Am I proud? Yes, I am proud, especially I get to share these stories with all of you and to show you more works over the next few years. Now this volume crossovers with another anime/manga I enjoy called 'Omamori Himari', if you haven't seen it, check it out, it's funny and really good. The character 'Ayu' mentioned in Story 3 is a fan-made character I created for the story. I hope in the future to get the characters of 'Omamori Himari' into the series again in the future, but for now, I hope you'll enjoy meeting another Rinko and reading of her adventures in Tokyo.**_

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 40**_

_**Little Tokyo Cousins**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_In past books, we have met Sia and Nerine's cousins, but they are not the only cousins to have had some adventures in the city of Tokyo. Kaede's own cousin Rinko had plenty of misadventures of her own during her visit to the city for the first time in seven years. It all started when...well, why don't you turn the page and find out just what happened._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-You're Making Too Much Noise!

-Put the Brakes On!

-Help Needed

-Fire Hazard

_**You're Making too Much Noise!**_

Primula was coming down the stairs to speak with Kaede. When she got to the bottom of the stairwell, she found her orange haired friend looking down the hallway at the sliding doors. She was looking in that direction for so long that Primula thought there must be something to look at. She looked too, but saw nothing but the doors.

At last, she asked the question; "Kaede, why are you looking at the doors?"

Kaede giggled, "I'm not looking at the doors Rimu, I'm waiting for my cousin to arrive."

"Your cousin?" Primula asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, her name is Rinko, she's the daughter of my mom's sister. She lives far away from here and it's been seven years since she came here, I'm really excited to see her again."

Primula seemed interested, she wanted to ask more questions about Rinko, but at that moment, the doorbell rang. Kaede went to answer the door, just as Rin came downstairs to see who had arrived.

The door slid to the side, and there, on the other side, was Kaede's cousin: Rinko.

Rinko was the same age and height as Kaede, but her hair wasn't as long as Kaede's, and it was light brown with two red ribbons. And unlike Kaede, Rinko had a unique shade of yellow eyes. As you can imagine, the two girls were happy to see each other for the first time in seven years.

"Welcome back to Tokyo Rinko," Kaede said happily. "It's good to see you again."

"Thanks Kaede, it feels good to be back and to see you again." She looked down the hallway and saw Rin, "hey Rin, staying out of trouble?"

"Uh..." Rin didn't answer the question, we know why, don't we?

Rinko just chuckled and brought in her suitcases, then Kaede introduced her cousin to Primula.

"Did you have trouble finding the house?" Kaede asked her cousin.

"Just a little," she chuckled nervously. "I thought that I could find the house without using my mother's instructions, but I only ended up back at the station. It's clear I don't know my way around anymore," she chuckled, although she was embarrassed.

"Well it happens from time to time," Rin said kindly.

"If you would like Rinko, I can show you around the city so you won't get lost again."

Rinko accepted the offer and the two girls set off. But it wasn't long before Kaede came back, "I almost forgot my purse." She grabbed it, then ran out to join her cousin.

"Same old Kaede," giggled Primula. Rin chuckled in agreement.

As they walked along, Kaede showed Rinko the newest places and showed her the places she remembered seeing. Rinko was enjoying herself, but as they came up to a crossroads in the area of the city known as 'Little Tokyo', Rinko heard an unusual sound.

"What is that sound?" she asked curiously.

Kaede listened for the sound, "That's one of the engines on the Little Tokyo Railway, and from the sounds of it, they're probably doing some shunting work."

Rinko looked confused, "the little what?"

"Little Tokyo Railway. Come on, I'll show you."

They walked down the road and found the big railway station. They also saw Courtney the big Japanese Engine backing onto a heavy goods train. "Good morning Kaede!" she called. "Love to stay and chat, but this goods train cannot be late."

She was quickly coupled up, then with a blow of her whistle, Courtney puffed away.

"You guys have steam trains here?" Rinko was quite surprised by what she had seen.

"Oh yes, there's plenty of them here on the Little Tokyo Railroad and there's some at the Big Amusement Park. They're all very nice engines, although there's a few of them with...uh, big egos." Kaede looked around, but saw no engines, "Don't tell those engines I said that."

"Oh don't worry, I'll keep your opinions a secret."

"Well I'm not trying to be mean, it's just...well, you'll find out during your visit here."

The Little Tokyo Railroad runs alongside the road for quite a distance, passing shops and homes along the way. The people along that route don't mind the trains, for they have gotten used to them. Well, all of them except for one.

Once, long ago, a woman named Mrs. Kirishima used to live on a farm with her husband. Sadly, earlier in the year, he had passed away and since she could not look after the farm by herself, she sold it and moved to Little Tokyo. She's never been happy with her decision, cause everytime she tries to sleep, something would pass by and wake her up. This would get her cross and as a result of it, she would shout at those who woke her up, from the engines to car and lorries and even the people walking past.

Kaede and Rinko were walking along and still talking when they heard a shout.

"You little bakas, be quiet!" they looked to the source of the shouts and saw a cross Mrs. Kirishima. "You kids are more annoying than those trains!"

"Annoying? ANNOYING!" exclaimed Rinko. "I can name something that's more annoying..."

But before Rinko could say anything, Kaede had dragged her cousin away.

"Just ignore her Rinko," she advised wisely. "You don't want to cause a scene in the streets."

"I do it all the time back at home, although I don't always ask for it."

Kaede sighed and shook her head, "same old Rinko, she hasn't changed a bit," but she only thought it to herself.

The two girls weren't the only ones to be yelled at by Mrs. Kirishima. When Nina came back with empty trucks, she got yelled at. Then a young couple got a shoe thrown at them for 'laughing too loud', and when Mayumi came walking by while talking on her mobile phone, she not only got yelled at, but she nearly got a flower pot dropped on her.

She looked up crossly, "hey lady, you nearly hit me with that flower pot!"

"Oh be quiet!" shouted Mrs. Kirishima. "I'm trying to sleep and you dumb bakas are keeping me up!"

Mayumi snorted and walked away in a huff. Mrs. Kirishima climbed back into her bed and hoped that nothing else would wake her up, but today wasn't going to be her lucky day.

After being yelled at earlier, Kaede and Rinko decided to be quiet on the way back. They were just walking past when a boy on a skateboard rolled past, singing out loud while listening to music on a portable music player. His loud singing woke Mrs. Kirishima up and she ran to the balcony to yell at who woke her up, but by now, the boy was long gone.

"Oh so it's you two that's making all the noise!" she snapped, taking the girls by surprise. "Well you won't be doing that for long. Police! POLICE!"

"But we weren't making any noise, we were just walking past," groaned Kaede.

Mrs. Kirishima payed no attention, she just continued to shout: "POLICE!" At last, an officer arrived. "Officer, arrest these two girls! They distrubed my peace today and I can't sleep because of them!"

Rinko was cross, "for your information lady, the shouting that woke you up was a male's voice, we happen to be girls. Plus, just like my cousin said, we were walking past quietly without waking you up," she said firmly while pointing to her. "So don't go blaming us for something we didn't do!"

"I still want you two arrested!"

"What for now?"

"For talking at me and for distrubing my peace!"

This resulted in a huge argument between Mrs. Kirishima and Rinko, both saying that the other person was wrong. People stopped to see the proceedings, even Big Mac slowed down to see what was going on. The officer tried to restore order, but no one could hear him. He pulled out his whistle and blew it so loudly that everyone stopped and looked at him.

"I will not be making any arrests today," he said.

"But I want you to! They are distrubing my peace," shouted Mrs. Kirishima.

The officer looked up to Mrs. Kirishima, "ma'am, people are allowed to walk past and talk, or sing in some cases, there is no law saying they can't do that. Also, talking back is not aganist the law, unless it's aganist an officer. However," he went on, "I know you've been distrubing the peace and throwing things at everyone that passes. If it makes contact, it can be considered assault and battery, and that is breaking the law."

Mrs. Kirishima gulped, "surely you wouldn't arrest me? Would you?"

"Doesn't matter of the age, you would be arrested and taken to jail, and I don't think you would like that."

"Oh no sir I wouldn't."

"In that case, I'll let you off with a warning this time and hope I don't have to come back over here." The officer then turned to Kaede and Rinko, "You two can go now, sorry for all the trouble."

"It's alright officer and thank you," smiled Kaede.

They walked happily away, while everyone else continued on their way, but Mrs. Kirishima sulked, "where are my rights?" But she only said it to herself. Maybe one day, Mrs. Kirishima will get used to living in the Little Tokyo area, but I guess only time will tell.

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by a moment where an officer was called to a house where an older woman was complaining about kids playing basketball across the street from her house. The kids moved their net, but the older woman still wasn't happy, but the officer said that the kids could continue playing, as long as they stayed away from the older woman's house.

_**Put the Brakes On!**_

The next morning was a nice sunny day and Rin, Primula and Kaede were sitting down to breakfast with cheerful smiles on their faces. This couldn't be said for Rinko when she came in to eat, she was half awake and tired.

"Didn't you sleep well last night Rinko?" Primula asked.

"No," she answered as she sat down next to Rin. "I can't sleep in different beds at first, I've never been able to..." But she never finished as she fell asleep and landed face first into her plate of food. Primula was speechless, but Kaede just sighed.

"I've heard of diving in face first, but I think this just takes the cake," said Rin.

Just then, the trio heard a knock at the sliding glass door. Kaede answered it and found Drew, their American Friend, on the other side with a newspaper in his left hand.

"Morning guys, I hope I'm not interupting anything important, but I just found something interesting in the newspaper that you have to see."

Kaede took the newspaper and read aloud the article.

"Yesterday, several members of the England Terrors gang tried to rob passengers on board one of the Talyllyn Railway's trains, pulled by their No 2 engine; Dolgoch. However, their efforts proved in vein as the passengers stood up to them and kept them restrained until they reached the top station. The girl who lead them got away away with a couple of members, but the rest were taken away by the police and are now serving time in prison for crimes they have commited."

"Wow, that is good news," smiled Rin.

"Indeed," nodded Primula. "Now those Terrors are going to learn that people aren't going to stand down and let them get away. After all, enough is enough."

Drew happily agreed to that, then he noticed Rinko sleeping in her food.

"Come on Rinko, wake up." Kaede tried to get her cousin up, but ended up back where they started, "oh dear."

She was finally able to wake Rinko up, after much difficulty and after finishing her meal and changing into nice clean clothes, she and Kaede continued with their tour of the city.

"I'm sorry about earlier Kaede," Rinko yawned. "I didn't mean to sleep in the food you made."

"Oh that's okay Rinko," Kaede smiled. "It happens from time to time."

After much walking, they walked up to one of the biggest buildings Rinko had ever seen in her entire life.

"That's the Tokyo Railroading museum," Kaede explained. "They don't have alot in there right now, but it's still a great place to visit."

On that note, the two girls walked into the museum.

Matthew, the museum's owner, was talking with a workman inside the museum.

"This is going to be a big expensive job sir," said the workman. "I hope you know what you're doing, uh no offence mind you."

"None taken. I know it's a very big chance we're taking, but if it works, we can bring alot of smiles to people's faces." Just then, they heard footsteps coming their way. "Okay, you take the plans to the other workmen and don't tell anyone else about this or our _other_ plan."

The workman nodded and walked away, while Matthew went to greet the visitors.

"Hello Ms. Kaede, it's good to see you again. Who's your friend?"

"I'm her cousin Rinko, I've come to visit her and see the city."

"Well it's nice to meet you Rinko," he said in a very kind way.

Rinko raised her left eyebrow when she saw that and Kaede turning into a light shade of red. "You sure have good manners, you could sweep any girl off her feet, ain't that right cous?" This caused Kaede to blush into a deeper shade of red.

Matthew just smiled, "well perhaps it's just the way I was raised."

Afterwords, Matthew introduced Rinko to the engines and rolling stock. As per usual, Brad was running off his mouth, but Kimberly soon silenced him.

"Excuse me Matthew, but who it that engine?" Kaede pointed to the area behind Michael the Diesel. "I've never seen that one before."

"Well there's a good reason for that," he smiled and lead the two girls to the engine.

The engine had a tall funnel, a brass bell, red cab, brass fittings all around it, four front wheels, four big driving wheels and a very big tender with the letters: W&A.R.R.

"Kaede, Rinko, I would like to introduce you to our newest addition, Engine No 73."

"Hello there," smiled No 73.

"Hello 73, it's nice to meet you," Kaede said kindly.

"73 here came just two nights ago," Matthew explained. "She used to work on the Western and Atlantic Railroad until she was retired in the early 1900's and left to rust away in a siding outside an engine shed. A friend of mine found her in the year 2000 and restored her to operation condition. Sadly, he couldn't afford to keep her, so he donated her to the museum."

"It's sad I won't get to see him that often," sighed 73, "but at least I'm in good hands here."

73 then told them all of what she had seen when the 'Gerenal' was stolen in the 'Great Locomotive Chase' during the Civil War years.

Meanwhile, in another part of the museum, a mother and her son were looking at Brad. But the boy was a little _too_ interested.

"Stop grabbing at those parts!" His mother pulled her son back from Brad. "How many times do I have to tell you not to grab things?"

"But..."

"No buts, these trains do not belong to you and they can be dangerous if you're not careful."

The boy sulked, he really wanted to play with the life size trains and thought his mother was being mean. So, when his mother had turned away for a second, he took off and ran on to the other side of Brad. His mother looked back and saw that her son was gone.

"Bother that boy," she groaned. "He's just like his father, can't stay still for just a second."

She looked all around Brad for her son, but couldn't find him. Her son was in Brad's cab and was amazed by all the Atlantic's controls, gauges and levers.

"Cool," he smiled. "Now where's that whistle?" He tried alot of different things, which raised Brad's suspicions. Then, it happened. Still searching for the whistle, the young boy released the brakes. Slowly, Brad began to move backwards.

"Help! Help! I'm moving! I'm moving! Someone stop me!" he cried.

Michael groaned and was about to tell Brad to be quiet when he saw the Atlantic rolling. "Matthew! Brad's on the loose! Look out!"

Matthew, Kaede and Rinko looked and gasped.

"Oh by the maple leaf, no!" Matthew ran after the Atlantic, but by now, Brad was starting to pick up speed so Matthew couldn't catch him. But Rinko could, she ran past Matthew and jumped into Brad's cab.

"Hi there, wanna play train?" the little boy asked.

"Sure," Rinko answered as she looked out the cab. "Let's play train by stopping before reaching the end of the tracks."

But there was a problem, the boy couldn't remember which lever applies the brakes. Worst still, they were approaching the wall at the end of the tracks.

"The brake handle is on the Driver's side!" Matthew called. "It's the gold one on the right side!"

Rinko went to the handle and applied it. Brad came to a stop with mere inches to spare from the door.

"Cor blimey, that was too close. I could've hit the wall, damaged my tender, broke my buffers, run into the streets and..."

"That will do Brad!" Matthew said firmly to him. "Good timing there Rinko."

"Thanks, but I don't think I would want to do it again."

The boy's mother came running up and she didn't look too happy. "You certainly won't be doing that again young man, I will make sure of that!"

"Hey ma'am, don't be so hard on your son, kids will be kids after all. Besides, nothing got damaged and no one got hurt."

"Hmm, I guess you're right," she said to Rinko. Then she turned to her son, "but you're still going to be grounded young man and you won't be allowed to go anywhere near trains for a whole month."

The little boy pouted, but excepted the punishment. His mother apologized for the incident, then they left.

"Well Rinko, I bet this beats a normal day in your hometown right?" asked Matthew.

Rinko just smiled a sly smile, "well it's up there, but I've seen stranger things back in my hometown, believe me."

Both Matthew and Kaede decided it was best not to ask.

_**Help Needed**_

During the short period of time Rinko had been in the City of Tokyo, she became just as popular as her cousin. She also became friends with just about everyone she met. The only ones who didn't like her was Kaede's fan-club, they felt that she was unworthy of hanging out with Kaede. They learned the hard way that trying to bully her was a big mistake.

"Is that normal for you Kaede?" she asked afterwords.

"Yes it's normal in our everyday lives," she answered sadly. "However, they're not as bad as Sia and Rina's fan-clubs, they are always causing trouble."

Kaede explained about Laura's runaway and the vandalism that got Yoshida into trouble.

"Dumb bakas, I hope they learn to stop doing that before it's too late."

"We all hope that," sighed Kaede just as Nina rolled past their location with a goods train.

As they walked along, Kaede noticed that Rinko had something on her mind, but decided to wait till later to find out what it was.

Late that night, Asa came over for a visit and helped both Kaede and Primula make dinner.

"Uh Rinko, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Kaede, what would you like to ask me?"

"Well earlier, I noticed that something was bothering you, can you tell us of what was on your mind?"

"Nothing's really bothering me Kaede, it's just that after I said the words; 'before it's too late', it reminded me of a friend of mine back in my hometown, who had alot of problems, phsyically and mentally, and it _was_ almost too late for her."

"_Was_ almost too late?" Primula asked with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

Rinko looked back to the counter and noticed that dinner wouldn't be ready for a while, so she decided to tell her friends and family the whole story.

In her hometown, Rinko has lots of friends, many she's known since she was a kid. One of the them was named Ayu, a girl with yellow hair with a single red ribbon, and with a passion for cute things. She was a sweet little thing when she was a kid, but her attitude changed as she got older and she acted like she was queen. Some people didn't like this version of her, but Rinko still considered her a friend.

"She's rude, loud and disrespectful," Yutto said one evening. "I'll never understand why you like hanging out with a person like her."

Rinko was cross and smacked him on the top of his head.

"You dummy, don't you ever say that in front of me again! You do, and I'll ask my cat to sleep on your face again."

Yutto was another childhood friend of Rinko's, but he was the only one to be allergic to cats. Yet surprisingly, Rinko's cat was living with him in his house.

"Ayu is a good person and a good friend, I would never give up my friendship because of change in attitude."

"While I will admit that you're right there," he muttered, while rubbing the top of his head. "I will say that her changes probably will make her a hazard, especially with her sixteenth birthday coming up."

Rinko didn't believe him, but he was going to be proven right one day.

When that birthday came, Ayu went to get her license. She didn't pass the test, but the examier thought she was a cute girl and came up with an idea to help her, "if you can answer one question correctly, I will give you your license."

The question was: "what causes the most car accidents in Japan?"

Ayu gave four different answers, but none of them were correct. In the end, the examier gave her the right to drive. Many people believed this was a big mistake. Ayu would drive over the speed limit, use her car as a make-up studio and even as a kitchen at times. This scared alot of people, even Rinko.

"I love you baby, but you are bad at driving," she said.

"I'm trying my best Rinko, you know that!" she groaned, looking like she was going to cry.

"Yeah I know Ayu, just keep trying."

The stress of driving started to get to Ayu. She would cry alot and have tenterms. It soon got so bad that it started to affect her life. The solution was medication that would prevent her from getting 'panic attacks'. It worked sometimes, but not always.

She always took her medication, that was until one time when it ran out and she couldn't renew it. Her family doctor had retired and the clinic would not give her the medications she needed. Ayu tried to speak with a therapist, but only eneded up on a long, long waiting list.

"That stinks if you ask me," Rinko said to her one day. "So what will you do now?"

"I'll find a way Rinko, I always do," she said, but not with alot of confidence. "I feel like I'm going to have another panic attack right now."

Her solution wasn't a good one. She self-medicated herself, which included drinking alcohol and stealing other people's medications. She thought it could work, but she still had panic attacks and she often felt too sick to even leave the house and go to school.

"I think her best solution is to give up her right to drive," said Yutto one day.

"It's about more than just her driving Yutto," Rinko snapped firmly. "I think she's got mental problems."

"And you're just learning about that now?"

Rinko stared crossly at him and smacked him on top of his head again. "This is no joke dummy, it could be a matter of life and death if she doesn't get help soon."

"True, but you have to admit that she brought all this upon herself."

As much as she didn't want to admit it, Rinko knew that Yutto was right. Ayu's options have brought her to this point, but she still wanted to help her friend.

And she would, sooner than anyone thought.

One day, she and Ayu were going to an anime convention in a neighbouring town. Rinko was excited about this, but she wasn't excited about the drive there, mostly because Ayu was driving and she was feeling sick again.

"Do you mind slowing down Ayu?" she groaned. "You're going a little too fast for my liking."

"Stop worrying Rinko, we'll be fine," she insisted.

"We'll be fine, yeah right," muttered her car. Then he saw trouble ahead, a car had stalled and it was right in their path, "look out Ayu! Look out!"

When she heard her car shout, Ayu swirved dangerously to the left and shut her eyes in fear. Somehow and someway, they mananged to avoid hitting anything before finally coming to a stop.

"That was awful," panted Rinko. "How did you..." but then she noticed Ayu opening her eyes. "You had your eyes closed?"

"Sorry about that Rinko. Oh man, I think I'm having another panic attack."

"Please just shut off the car, please."

Ayu did as Rinko asked, then she broke down into tears. "I'm so messed up, I can't even drive my own car. What is wrong with me?"

To avoid anymore incidents, the girls decided to go home. This time, Rinko drove them home.

Along the way, Ayu told Rinko how being on a waiting list and self medicating for so long was affecting her life. Rinko listened and decided that something had to be done, cause if not, she would lose her friend forever.

Her mom was a therapist and after much discussion with Ayu, she came up with a solution.

"There is a place where you can go and won't have to self medicate or wait ever again," she was saying to Ayu. "You will have to go away for sixty days though I'm afraid."

"Why should I be shipped away like a piece of rubbish?"

It took some time and alot of talking, but soon Ayu agreed to seek help. Rinko came to see her off, but it wasn't a joyful moment.

"I got to go away for sixty day Rinko," she sobbed.

"I know Ayu, just get better and I'll be here to greet you when you get back."

"Thank you Rinko, you're a good friend, you always will be."

With a final wave goodbye, the van drove away with a very sick Ayu sitting in the back seat.

There was silence in the kitchen for less than a minute, nobody knew what to say. Rinko took in another breath, and with a tear falling from her right eye, she finished the story.

"She's been away for more than sixty days and I haven't heard anything about her condition since she left."

"Well maybe your friend is doing better now and getting the help she needs," suggested Primula.

"Perhaps Rimu, I often think that she is, but I guess we'll have to wait to know the truth. I just hope she's okay."

Kaede and the others all hoped that too.

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by the real life of Canada's Worst Driver #5: Angelina. With her family doctor retired, she couldn't get the medications she needed. Also, being on a waiting list for three years to see a Physiologist was taking a serious toll on her. In 2013, she came back for 'Worst Driver Ever', but it was feared that the challenges weren't doing any good for her, especially when she was closing her eyes and not knowing she did that. In the end, she was sent away to get the help she needed. Let's all hope she's getting better.

_**Fire Hazard**_

Rinko's visit was coming to an end. On the day before she was to go home, Kaede took her to one of the biggest places in the entire city, the Amusement Park and Railway. Now Rinko had to admit that she's been to alot of Amusement Parks, but this one really was the biggest she's ever been to.

Rose the daylight engine was at the front of the train when they walked into the park.

"There sure are alot of trains in this city," Rinko said to her cousin. "Why does this park have a small railway anyways?"

"Well the park is so big that nobody would be able to go around the park in one whole day. That's why the park has a railway."

Just then, they heard a loud clanking and chugging sound coming towards the front gates.

"Uh oh, here comes trouble again," groaned Rose.

Moments later, Darren the rude tractor came into view with his trailer. His engine wasn't working properly, and as a result of it, he was not only making alot of noise, but he was blowing off alot of smoke out of his chimney.

"For crying out loud Meryl!" shouted Rinko, the Driver of Rose. "I thought you were going to fix that stupid motor."

"I don't have the time to do that Rinko!" he snapped.

Kaede's cousin thought that Darren's Driver was talking to her, but soon she realised that he was talking to Rose's Driver.

"Oh really?" snapped Rinko the Driver. "You have all the time in the world to smoke, but you can't take the time to fix that stupid tractor."

"You're the stupid one," Darren muttered rudely.

The supplies were soon loaded up onto Darren's trailer and he chugged away, blowing off nasty smoke everywhere.

"Dumb tractor," groaned Rinko the Driver.

Threw the smoke, Rose could see that oil was spilling out of Darren. She wanted to tell him that, but Darren was now too far to even hear her. "Hope he doesn't get into too much trouble today," she thought to herself.

Kaede and Rinko first rode the train to the game section, then went over to the rides. Rinko rode on just about everyone of them, even the scary ones. After that, they rode on Kaiyo's train to an area which had food and drink stalls. There, they got some cotton candy and cold drinks known as slushies. Poor Rinko got a brain freeze.

"I told you not to drink it too fast Rinko."

"Ugh, yeah I know, but I didn't listen," she groaned.

Meanwhile, Darren's Driver was talking with the Park Controller. By the sounds of it, the Driver was getting scolded.

"I've told you a thousand times already to fix that motor, yet you're not listening to me," the Park Controller was saying. "A lot of visitors have been complaining about the noise and the smoke, and I can't have that."

"Fine, I'll fix him after the next delivery."

"No, you fix him right now! Gary will collect the supplies."

The Driver wasn't happy, but ultimately took Darren away to be fixed. Darren's Driver was a temporary employee that was working in place of the other Driver. The other Driver was in the hospital, recovering from an accident he had at his house. He had been away for a while, but it seemed like forever.

"I shouldn't be doing this," grumbled the Driver. "I rather have a smoke than do this."

Darren was getting annoyed by all the complaining, "so have your smoke and finish your work!"

The Driver took him seriously and lit one of his smokes, which was going to be a mistake. Darren was still leaking oil and it was all around the tractor, and as we all know, oil can catch fire quite easily.

Rinko and Kaede were riding on Michelle's train to another part of the park that had more rides. As Michelle puffed past the sheds and yards, everyone noticed the clouds of smoke were getting thicker and darker.

"Driver, why are you running your engine so rich?" asked one of the visitors.

"I'm not," he replied. "This isn't coming from Michelle."

Suddenly, a little boy on the train shouted, "the tractor's on fire!"

Everyone looked and gasped. Darren was engulfed in flames and his temporary Driver was doing all he could to put the flames out.

Michelle stopped a good distance away, "he'll never get the flames out with just water," she said.

"Not with oil surronding the area," added the Driver.

Darren's temporary Driver was trying his best, but the smoke was really starting to get to him and before you could say 'call the fire bargade!' the Driver passed out and fell into a puddle of oil.

"If he doesn't get up soon, he'll burn alive," said Kaede with a worried tone in her voice.

But the man didn't get up, he was out cold. Worst still, the flames were getting close to him.

"He's not going to burn on my watch!"

Rinko jumped out of her coach and ran directly into the smoke. She had a hard time seeing anything or hear anything with Darren screaming in pain. She walked around blind, but soon she bumped into something. She looked down and to her relief was the passed out Driver.

"Let's get you out of here," she said, but he didn't respond.

Getting him out of that mess was easier said than done. He wasn't a very light person, so Rinko had a hard time getting him up.

"I need some hlp here!" she cried.

But all she heard was Darren's screams. She thought his screams drowned out her calls for help. "Be quiet you stupid tractor!" But Darren kept on going.

Rinko groaned and tried again to get the man up, but ended up falling into a puddle of unlit oil. Rinko was starting to think this rescue was hopeless, that was until she saw Michelle's Driver walking threw the smoke and up to her.

"What are you doing laying there girl? We got to get out of here!"

"Right, let's do this," she said with determination.

Working together, Rinko and the Driver got the man up and out of the fires to safety. The fire bargade soon arrived and easily put the fire out. Darren was covered in soot, but was none the worse for this mishap.

The Park Controller thanked Rinko and Michelle's Driver for what they did.

"That was dangerous to go into the flames," he said to Rinko. "But thanks to your bravery, a life was not lost."

"Well that's why I did what I did sir," smiled Rinko.

The fire chief came over, just as the man woke up. "This and the oil is what caused your fire," he said. He held out a smoke that had been on the ground.

"I should've known," sighed the Park Controller. "I always said smoking is bad, but I never thought it would lead to this!"

The man gulped, now he was in _real_ trouble. "We will speak later in my office."

It certainly wasn't a good conversation. In the end, he was fired from the park and Darren's Driver would take over, just as soon as his tractor was fixed.

The next day, it was time for Rinko to go home. Asa, Kaede, Rin and Primula came to see her off.

"I had a good time visiting this city again," she said to Kaede. "I hope to come back again soon."

"I hope so too, it was great having you here."

Rinko smiled and gave her cousin a big hug. At which moment, Kira and Paige arrived at the station.

"Take care of yourself Rinko and tell your mom I said hello." Rinko promised that she would, "and please don't be too rough with your friend Yutto."

"I'll try, but I'm not making any promises!" she said and winked in a cheeky way.

She climbed on board, the doors closed and the train started to pull away. Kaede and the others waved till she was out of sight.

"She'll be back," said Kaede. "But hopefully next time, her visit here will less eventful as this one."

"You never know Kaede," piped up Primula. "Cause around here, there's never a dull moment."

_**The End!**_


	41. Jane the Lost Engine

**Wow, nearly six months and I haven't posted a single new book for the RWS Shuffle. I'm sorry to make you all wait, I hope this book will make for it. The engine known as Jane in this book is based off 'Fairy Queen', an engine that works in India, she's one of the oldest operating engines in the world. **

_**RWS/Shuffle-Book No. 41**_

_**Jane the Lost Engine**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

Dear Friends,

_A long time ago, the Ffarquhar branch line was a single railway that took passengers & Supplies to the other Sudrian railways and it was run by a single engine that had been built in 1855. In 1915 though, the line was merged with the new North Western Railway and other engines came to run the line. As we all know, the line was given to Thomas and the Ffarquhar engines, but the original engine was never seen or heard from again...until recently. These stories tell you of an engine's return after over ninty years of being lost._

The Author

**Stories Included:**

-Lost and Found

-Lacking the Strength

-Wedding Trains & Cattle

-What to do with Jane

_**Lost and Found**_

In the Autumn season of 2006, the Railways of Sodor were in the process of cleaning up after the summer of Terror. The North Western Railway had suffered the most during that time. The Fat Controller brought a steam engine from the Bluebell Railway to help with the clean-up efforts. This one was a USA-Built dock tank engine named Rosie.

The orignal plan was to send Rosie back when the clean-up efforts were done, but the Bluebell had an engine of her class already and had no time or room for her, so she was donated to the NWR. With her Permanent placement on the Island, the Fat Controller sent her to Ffarquhar to help with workloads and to help with expansion projects.

One morning during the Autumn Season of 2006, Rosie was waiting at the juncton for Thomas to arrive before she could go to Ffaquhar.

"When can we go? When can we go?" grumbled the trucks.

"We'll go once Thomas has collected his passengers and so sooner," Rosie said firmly to them.

The trucks continued to grumble, but Rosie took no notice. Henry soon arrived with the stopping passenger train and moments later, Thomas arrived. All the passengers changed trains, except for one. A man with a book came up to see Thomas. He looked at his book, then back to Thomas.

"Excuse me, but can you tell where the main engine of the branch line is?" he asked.

"That would be me," Thomas answered proudly. "I've worked on this branch line since 1946, which was sixty years ago to be honest."

The man looked confused, "you're not the first engine that's worked on this line."

Now it was Thomas who was confused. Rosie was listening with interest.

"According to my book here, there was another engine that worked on this line. What happened to that engine?"

Thomas wasn't sure of what the man was talking about. But before questions could be answered, the guard blew his whistle and the man rushed to get into Clarabel.

"That man is silly,"grumbled Thomas and puffed away. But Rosie was intrigued by the whole thing and wanted to learn more about this engine.

"I'll go to the Ffarquhar library at lunchtime and see if I can find anything," said her Driver.

And he did. Late that night, he told all the engines and their crews of what he discovered.

"Long before Thomas took control of the branch line in 1946, there was indeed another engine that ran this line," he said. "She was an engine built in 1855 and was bought by the Ffarquhar, Knapford and Elsbridge Railway in 1871. For years, the line ran under it's own manager and it's own timetable, bringing passengers and goods to the Sodor & Midland Railway."

"That would be from when Neil was around," muttered Percy, thinking to a conversation he once had with Rheneas at Crovan's Gate. He went silent though when all the engines looked at him firmly.

"This service," continued Rosie's Driver, "continued until 1915 when it merged with the Sodor & Mainland and other lines to become today's North Western Railway. However, traffic decreased on the line and other engines were proving to be far more reliable. In the end, the line was closed down and the engine vanished without a trace."

Thomas thought back to when he first started working the branch line. He remembered that the line was rusty and very overgrown.

"What do you mean 'vanish without a trace'?" asked Percy.

"The book doesn't say of what happened to the engine. For all we know, it could've been taken by a museum or scrapyard."

The engines gulped, "I hope it was preserved," groaned Emily and everyone agreed with her.

During the year 2006, the Fat Controller annouced his plans to double track the Ffarquhar branch and add a new station and yards, which we know as Primula's station today.

The next morning, Rosie was taking some supplies and equipment to Ffarquhar, but the trucks were being troublesome like always.

"Hold back! Make her slack! Hold Back! Make her slack!"they giggled in their silly way.

Rosie was doing her best to keep the trucks in order. "Stop being so silly," she said firmly to them. "We have work to do and your tricks are going to make us late."

The trucks didn't care, they were enjoying themselves and were even planning their next trick.

Rosie was almost at Ffarquhar, her Driver reduced steam and was about to slow Rosie down when...

"Go on! Faster! Faster! On! On! On!"

The trucks bumped into Rosie and began to push her faster and faster.

"Stop it you stupid trucks!" cried Rosie, but they payed no attention.

They pushed Rosie past Ffarquhar and the yards, then pushed her onto Toby's line. Rosie and her crew tried everything they knew to stop them, but it was no use. A police officer was riding along on his bike threw the roads of Ffarquhar when he heard screeching. He looked back and saw Rosie coming fast, almost out of control.

He got off his bike and used his whistle to warn others. Then he watched as Rosie rattled by with the trucks rattling and laughing behind her.

"Thank you officer!" Rosie cried and disappeared into the distance.

The officer quickly got back onto his bike and chased after the runaway train.

At last, the trucks were tiring and Rosie was getting control again. The Driver opened the reserver and sounded the whistle loud and long.

Mavis was quietly doing some shunting when she heard the frantic whistling. With wheels still screeching on the rails, Rosie skidded into the quarry and stopped with a few feet in front of Mavis.

"What were you doing coming in here like that?" the quarry diesel asked.

"I couldn't help it, I was pushed," she panted.

Just then, the policeman arrived. He spoke with the crew, then went to speak with the trucks. They weren't looking too pleased when he came up. "That's reckless endangerment and breaking the speed limit. If you were humans, I would take you down to the police station, but I think I'll let Sir Topham Hatt deal with you lot himself."

The trucks gulped. While Rosie was catching her breath, she noticed an old building far from the tracks.

"Hey Mavis, how long has that building been there?"

Mavis looked and saw the building, which was not too far from the manager's office.

"That old thing? I'm not too sure really, it was here when I started. Nobody knows what's inside it, we never bothered to look inside."

Rosie was thinking back to the story she heard last night when a thought came into her head.

"Can you guys look in that old shed?" she asked her crew. "I think you might find something important in there."

The Driver, fireman and police officer went to the old shed and looked in. It was dirty, dusty and very hard to see in there, but they did see something in there. The fireman strained his eyes and gasped.

"There's an engine in there!" he cried.

The manager and the workmen gathered around and looked inside. They were surprised to see an engine in there. The manager went into his office and came back with an old pick-axe.

"Stand back!" he shouted.

Everyone stood back. The manager raised the axe up high and swung it at the old rusty lock. It broke open on first contact.

Rosie's crew opened the door, revealing a small tank engine. The Driver looked for builder's plates while the fireman checked the engine over. It had a very tall funnel, an open cab, only six wheels, two of which were driving wheels and two side tanks on either side of the engine.

"Wow, they sure don't build engines like this one anymore," commented the fireman.

"Indeed not," agreed the Driver. "This engine had been built in 1855. I think this is the engine that ran the line before Thomas."

Agmost all the commotion, the engine woke up and looked around, "what's going on?" she asked with a yawn.

"Oh sorry dear engine, we didn't mean to wake you up," the Driver said kindly. "We were just looking you over to see what condition you are in and to see where you were built."

"Oh okay I understand. May I ask who you are?"

"Well Rob and I are the crew of Rosie, another steam engine. She believed you were in here, and she was right."

"I see, now I just have one more question to ask. Who am I?"

**Author's Note:**

This story was inspired by the discovery of Nevada Northern #40. The engine had left in an old shed when the railroad closed down. In the 1980's, No 40 was discovered and put back into service on a heritage railway that runs along it's original line. No 40 is still in service today and is often called 'The Ghost Train'.

_**Lacking the Strength**_

"So, let me get this straight," Sia was saying in the present day. "This engine had been locked in a shed for over ninty years, yet no one seemed to notice it? And to top it all off, she can't remember anything from her past?"

Sia, Nerine and Yoshida were visiting the Steamworks and had just finished listening to the story of how the old engine was found.

"Yeah that's pretty much it," said Maggie.

"I think it's sad," Yoshida said sadly. "Not being able to remember anything like friends, adventures or their own name."

"I bet you wish you could forget _your_ past," snickered a nearby truck.

Maggie picked up a wrench and threw it at the truck. The truck groaned, but when he saw the angry stare on Maggie's face, he went silent at once.

"It is sad," agreed Edna, "but the good news is that the old engine will soon be working again."

"Ever since she was discovered, everyone here at the Steamworks has been working hard to get her ready for work," added Maggie. "In fact, I think they're going to fire her up today."

They were indeed going to fire the engine up, but she didn't look too happy though.

"I don't even know what I used to do, so what good am I?"

"Well I'm sure that Sir Topham Hatt will find some use for you," Karen said kindly.

"Just be grateful you can run, cause right now, I can't." The voice was coming from Jack. Since his arrival, his boiler had been removed from his frames and he was hanging from the ceiling. "Be glad you'll soon have steam in your cylinders, many engines don't get that chance."

"I guess you're right," sighed the old engine.

The fire was soon lit and the engine was puffing out of the Steamworks like she was a new engine that had just been built. The Fat Controller and an inspector watched the various tests, they were impressed by the old engine. She was doing well, but she still wasn't happy. When the tests were done, the Fat Controller came to see her.

"I know it must be hard not being able to remember everything from your past, but rest assured, we'll do all we can to help you."

"Thank you sir."

"In the meantime, I'd like to give you a name, if that's okay."

"It's fine by me sir."

The Fat Controller thought about it, then came up with a name, "I'll name you after my wife; Jane."

The old engine smiled at once, "oh sir, I would love to have that name, thank you."

Jane spent another night in the Steamworks, talking with Karen and Jack, then in the morning, she was taken to the junction. Thomas was there picking up passengers.

"Hullo there," he called. "You look much better now than the last time I saw you."

"Well I have to admit that they did do a good job," admitted Jane. "I feel like a new engine."

Thomas chuckled, he couldn't count how many times he's heard an engine say those exact words.

"Is there anything I can do?" Jane asked. "The Fat Controller said I could work here again."

"Well, you could always take the trucks in the siding next to me and bring them to the harbour," he suggested. "Percy's too busy with other things and Rosie is working on getting us to Ulfstead."

Jane looked over to the trucks, there weren't too many of them.

"I guess I could do that, it might do me some good."

A guard's whistle sounded and Thomas had to go, "good luck!" he called and soon disappeared with Annie, Clarabel and Victoria rattling behind. Jane was backed down onto the line of trucks and was coupled up.

"Alright, you're good to go!" called the shunter, or so he thought.

Jane tried to move the trucks, but only spun her wheels on the rails. "Sorry," she called. "I guess I'm not that strong."

"It's alright," said the shunter. "I'll just uncouple some of your trucks and you can come back later for the rest of them."

So they uncoupled more than half of the train and tried again. Jane was finally able to move, but instead of hauling eight empty trucks, she was pulling only three. Jane tried to hurry down to the harbour, but found that she wasn't very fast.

Emily learned this too and she wasn't happy, "hurry up!" she shouted. "My passengers will get cross with me if I'm late!"

"This is as fast as I can go, I'm sorry!" Jane called back.

Thanks to her slowness, Emily did indeed run late and Jane was late arriving at the harbour. The harbour master didn't look too happy and even said so.

"I'm sorry sir," apologized Jane. "I'll go back for the other trucks."

"No you will not, it will take too long," he sighed. "Toby or Daisy will have to bring them down. You on the other hand can shunt trucks around here for a while."

"Yes sir," sighed Jane.

She put the trucks into a siding out of the way, then went to shunt the other trucks. The crew looked concerned.

"You struggled with three empty trucks," said her fireman. "I don't think you'll be able to shunt these ones."

"Well there's only one way to find out," said her Driver. "Let's get to work."

Later on, Toby came down the branch line with Henrietta and the trucks left behind at the junction. Agmost the passengers were Sia, Nerine and Yoshida.

"I wonder how that engine Jane is doing," Sia said to her friends.

"Well we'll know for sure, cause we're coming up to the harbour," Nerine pointed out.

Toby pulled in and gasped, trucks were all over the place, many being in the wrong sidings, and poor Jane was straining with them.

"I'd say it's not going well at all," muttered Yoshida. "I think those trucks are too heavy for her."

"Indeed you are right youngster," said the harbour master. "She can pull three empty trucks, but when loaded, she can only take one, and that's with them on their best behaviour."

The harbour master than asked Toby to help.

"But sir, what about my return train?"

"Thomas will take it when he comes."

Toby was uncoupled and taken to the yards. Yoshida helped by coupling and uncoupling trucks ready to be moved. Jane tried to help, but soon had to admit defeat and puffed over to a water tower out of the way.

"So much for being able to shunt," she sighed.

Just then, the harbour master came up, "Thomas is going to be a little later than we thought. Can you take Toby's passengers instead?"

"Of course we can, our engine can easily handle one coach," said the Driver.

But they had reconged without the route out of the harbour. Going out is all up hill, which makes it hard for engines with long trains.

Janes was coupled up to Henrietta and a small van and once the guard's whistle blew, she set off. "I can do it. I can do it," she muttered to herself.

Not too far from the harbour, she began to feel differently. Her old wheels often spun on the rails and once, she nearly slid down the hill completely. She was determined though and kept on going. After that, the journey was easy going, but not fast going. It was late when she reached the junction. The passengers weren't cross, but Gordon was.

"Now I'll have to run twice as fast to make up for lost time," he grumbled. The guard's whistle blew and Gordon rattled away with the express.

Jane puffed sadly back to the sheds. The Fat Controller was waiting there for her. "I tried my best sir."

"I know you did, but maybe the ways of a modern railway is a little too much for an engine like you. Don't worry though, we'll find you other work."

But as he turned to walk away, the Fat Controller was wondering if there _was_ any work best suited for Jane.

_**Wedding Trains & Cattle**_

While the Fat Controller was figuring out what to do with Jane, back in Tokyo, the Man in the Suit was having problems of his own. An old friend of his wife was getting married and she had requested for a wedding train to surprise her new husband. But she said it had to be a train made up of early 1800's equipment. The Man in the Suit was able to find coaches from that era with little difficulty. The engine though was different.

He only had one engine from the 1800's, but Big Mac wasn't that old, so the train wouldn't match. He went to see Matthew at the museum.

"I'm sorry sir," Matthew apologized to him. "But the only engine I have from the 1800's is 73, but she was built in the later eras."

The Man in the Suit slapped his forehead, "now what am I suppose to do?"

"Well, you could always try Sir Topham Hatt, maybe he has one you could borrow."

When he got back to his office, the Man in the Suit phoned the Fat Controller and told him of his delimma. On the other end of the phone, the Fat Controller smiled.

"My friend, I do have an engine you could use, and I think she would be perfect."

"Is it going to be Emily?"

"Not this time, let's just say she's a little surprise. I'll have her shipped to your railway within a few days."

When the conversation was done, the Fat Controller went down to Ffarquhar to speak with Jane, who was sitting in the sheds.

"I think I've found suitable work for you Jane," he said. "The Man in the Suit is looking for an engine of your vintage to pull a special wedding train and you're perfect for the job."

"That would be nice, but where is this railroad I'm going to?"

"It's in Tokyo Japan. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll enjoy running on their tracks."

Jane was sad to be leaving, but was glad to know that there was work for her to do.

Later that day, Rosie took Jane to the docks and watched as she was lifted onto the ship. Once tied down, they set off.

"This is going to mark history old girl," smiled her Driver. "This will be the first time an engine of your vintage had travelled over seas."

Jane only sighed, she didn't know if she had done something like this before.

Days went by quickly and soon the ship had arrived in the city of Tokyo. Under strict instructions, Rick lifted Jane off the ship and placed her gently on the rails. Both the Man in the Suit and Matthew inspected her from top to bottom.

"Very nice work," said Matthew. "Over a hundred years old and still looking good."

"Indeed," smiled the Man in the Suit. Then he spoke with Jane, "we are very honored to have you here and in good timing too as the wedding is tomorrow."

"I can't climb hills that well sir," she said unhappily.

"I understand that and don't you worry, the line is mostly flat and you'll be working with coaches as old as you are, so you should have no trouble."

"I hope not sir, I don't want to let anyone else down."

Her Driver patted her boiler, but it still didn't cheer her up. Luke came by and pulled Jane back to the sheds. That night, workmen worked to make sure Jane was ready for the next day. During that time, she talked with the engines and a few of their friends when they came by.

"You're not the only one of that vintage," said Drew. "There's another engine like you still in service. Her name is Fairy Queen and she works in India."

"Is that true or are you pulling our legs?" asked Asa.

"I'm telling you the truth, I've seen that engine for myself."

Jane smiled, she was glad to know that she wasn't the only one of her class still around.

The next morning, the crew arrived and got Jane fired up. She sighed as the warmth spread through her boiler.

Tex snorted, "don't know why we're not being used for that special. They'd be more comfortable in us than the old relics."

Rex hushed him up, "shut that vain mouth of yours! Besides, we're too busy to help and they asked for a train from that era, so you don't really have a saying in this."

Once she had a full head of steam, Jane puffed out of the sheds and over to the coach yards. She backed onto the vintage coaches smoothly.

"By any chance, do you lot know me?" Jane asked.

"Sorry," they answered. "But we just met you."

Jane sighed unhappily, "well thanks anyways."

The wedding was to be held at eleven that morning, then after the party, the wedding party would go to the railway. This meant that Jane would have to wait a bit before going off. She didn't mind waiting, she liked taking her time to admire her new surrondings, watch other trains come and go, and she enjoyed talking with anyone who wanted to listen.

At last, it was time to go. The Driver opened the regulator and with steam wheesing out, Jane pulled away.

They pulled into the station where the wedding party and the Man in the Suit were waiting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present your wedding day special," the Man in the Suit said to them.

"This entire train set consists of both vintage coaches and a vintage engine, which had just recently been restored by the North Western Railway, and per your request, this entire train is from the early 1800's."

"Oh thank you sir, this is wonderful," smiled the bride.

The passengers climbed on board, with the married couple being a coach all to themselves, then the Driver opened the regulator again and Jane set off.

"At least I can enjoy the run without worrying," Jane thought to herself.

Further down the line, there was trouble. A lorry taking cattle was running out of control. Something had failed and nothing the driver could do would work. Then, he came to the level crossing, he tried to stop, but instead he flipped the lorry onto it's side, blocking both lanes of traffic.

People came running, "are you alright?" they asked the lorry Driver.

"Yeah I'm fine, the pedals just got stuck, that's all. What of the cattle? Are they alright?"

Thankfully none of them were hurt, but they had been startled and ran out of the trailer in fright. As they ran onto the tracks, they spotted grass in between the rails. They forgot to be scared and remembered they were hungry, so they started to eat.

"Fine time to be eating," groaned the lorry Driver. Then they heard a whistle in the distance. "And this day just gets better and better."

Jane and her crew saw the cattle and came to a complete stop with some space from them.

"Sorry about this," called the lorry Driver. "Something broke on my lorry and it flipped over, which as you can see, scared the cattle and now they're all over your line."

"So much for the perfect run," sighed the Driver. "We better clear these things out of the way."

The crew and the lorry Driver tried everything they knew, but it didn't work. Other people came and tried, but nothing worked.

"I guess the wedding train's just going have to wait until they are done eating," sighed the fireman.

But just then, Jane had a flashback moment. She could remember a similar incident to this and how she dealt with the cattle last time.

"Wheesh my steam," she said to the crew. "It'll definetly work in getting them off the tracks."

The Driver went back to the cab and made Jane wheesh lots of steam. It did work, the cattle backed away and off the tracks.

"Well done old girl, that was splendid."

"It's nothing really sir, I've done it before."

The crew gasped, "you remembered?" they asked in unison.

"Just that incident, other than that, nothing."

With the line now clear, Jane was able to continue on. She puffed away just as the breakdown lorry arrived to clear up the mess. The cattle were taken by another lorry while the 'flipped over' lorry went to the garage for repairs.

Despite the cattle incident, the wedding party had a wonderful time and thanked Jane and her crew.

"We'd ride with you any day," smiled the Groom.

Jane smiled, but then it faded away. What would she doing now? She's not strong or fast enough for modern railroading and specials don't run that often. Jane began to worry about her fate.

_**What to do with Jane**_

Several days later, the Fat Controller arrived in the City of Tokyo for an important meeting with the Man in the Suit and Matthew.

"Jane did a fantastic job with the wedding day special," said the Man in the Suit. "And from what her Driver and fireman told me, she did regain her memory when she confronted all that cattle. That being said, I just don't think an engine of her age can work on a railroad like the Little Tokyo."

"Nor the North Western," added the Fat Controller. "The other engines can manage, they were designed for that kind of work. Jane on the other hand was only designed to haul smaller trains."

"But surely sir, you must have a heritage railway that could use her," suggested Matthew.

"The only heritage railway we have is at Great Waterton and with all those hills, Jane will never be able to take trains."

"We have no other short lines in this city that could use Jane's surface," added the Man in the Suit. "And the Other Railways are too fast for her."

The three men pondered on what to do with Jane.

"I would leave her in storage until a special event," said the Fat Controller, "but that wouldn't be fair to her."

"Indeed not," agreed the Man in the Suit. "If only there was a way to help her."

Suddenly, Matthew slapped his forehead, "of course, why didn't I think of that before? Gentlemen, I think I might have the siluation."

The two men listed in with great interest.

Outside, the engines and alot of their friends were talking with Jane, who was in a sad state.

"It's clear my friends that I'm not worthy of staying on the rails," Jane said sadly to them. "I'm too slow, old and weak. Maybe I was meant to become scrap iron."

"At least you'll be turned into something useful," said Tex rudely.

"Shut up Tex!" snapped Asa, Li and Rin in unison.

"What? I'm just telling it like it is."

"Well in the future, keep all comments to yourself, especially when we have guests in our shed," Li said angerily. "Gosh, sometimes I wonder if you ever think before you speak."

"I do think and how dare you say that!"

"Enough!" snapped Laura. "There's a time and place for an argument, but now is not the best time."

The engines looked and saw that Jane was sadder than before. "Sorry Jane," they both said un unison. But then Tex muttered, "but I am right." Li eye-balled him angerily.

"No one would scrap you," said Primula. "You're too valuable for scrap."

"Rimu is right," agreed Courtney. "I bet you right now that those three gentlemen are working on a plan to help you."

"Yeah, like turning you into a pumping engine," said Tex rudely.

Li let off steam angerily, "did I not just tell you to keep all comments to yourself? Gosh, you really don't think do you?"

"No Tex might be right," sighed Jane. "That's all I'm good for anyways."

"That's not true," said Big Mac. "Only troublesome engines like Shamus deserve to go at the back of the sheds. Engines like us deserve another chance to show off how useful we can be."

"Well it's easy for you to say, you can pull long heavy trains. I can't."

Big Mac gave off a small smile, "that's also not true my dear engine. I have a limit on how much I can pull, but I still force onwards until I get the job done."

"Personally, you should give up," said Tex rudely again.

Li groaned, "Rex, will you shut your brother's mouth up?! He's more annoying than Brad, and I never though I'd say that."

Rex looked back to his brother, "for goodness sakes Tex, if you don't have anything nice to say, then shut that mouth of yours."

Finally, Tex subsided into silence.

"Well there are heritage railways," suggested Drew. "They run all sorts of engines, young and old, maybe one of them will take you in."

Jane sighed unhappily, "I can't climb hills and I can't even move one loaded truck, so what good would I be?"

"But there must be something someone can do for you," said Kaede.

"I don't think there is."

The sheds went silent. They had gone over lots of suggestions, but it seemed that none were suitable for Jane.

"Ultimately, it's up to Sir Topham Hatt and the Man in the Suit of what happens to me," sighed Jane. "If they say that I'm going to be scrapped, I won't argue aganist them."

"You can't just give up," snapped Asa angerily. "What kind of example are you showing to younger engines?"

"I can't even remember my past, I'm worthless."

"You're not worthless and I refuse to let you sit there and pout. Every cloud has a silver lining Jane and you'll have your silver lining, but you won't get it if you give up. And what of your memories? They will eventually return, but if you give up, you'll never get them back. So don't give up on yourself!"

There was stunned silence after this speech, then Rin clapped, "beautiful Asa, that was so wonderfully put."

Jane was silent, she was thinking. At last, she broke her silence, "you're right, I can't give up. I was spared for a reason, and that was not to pout, but whatever the reason was, I'm not going to give up on trying to remember or on my place in this world."

"Very well said Jane," said another voice.

Everyone looked and saw the Fat Controller, the Man in the Suit and Matthew walking over to the sheds. Kaede blushed when she saw Matthew.

"We have been talking," said the Man in the Suit. "But the LTR is not suitable for you, it's just too fast and busy."

"The North Western Railway is the same," added the Fat Controller. "And since you have trouble on hills, you can't work on the Great Waterton Heritage Line."

"Well sirs, whatever you've decided for me, I will be a big girl and accept my fate."

"Can I speak now?" asked Tex.

"No!" snapped Rex. "Now be quiet!" Tex subsided into silence again.

"Well we have decided that..." the Man in the Suit paused. Everyone waited and seemed to hold their breath. "That you are to become one of the operating engines of the Tokyo Railroad museum."

"The museum?" Everyone shouted at once.

Matthew nodded, "yes the museum," he answered. "There, people will be able to see such a beautiful engine up close and personal, and on special occassions, like that wedding train, Jane can be taken out."

"Plus, being around people and engines just might help you Jane," added the Man in the Suit.

"So what do you say?" asked the Fat Controller. "Is that something you'd like to do?"

Again, there was a pause in the yards as everyone waited for Jane's reply.

"I said I was going to be a big girl and accept my fate, and that's just what I'm going to do. I accept the offer sirs."

Hearing that was the signal for cheers, whistles and horns.

"That Shigure girl was right," Jane thought to herself. "There is a silver lining and now I've found mine."

Now Jane is as happy as can be. After getting used to Brad's chatter all the time, she settled in very well at the museum and become the most popular attraction there. And like she had been told, she was let out of the museum for specical occassions. She's still sad because she can't remember who she was and what her past was like, but I'm happy to say that she hasn't give up.

"They'll come back to me," she said sleepily one evening. "After all, every cloud does have a silver lining."

_**The End**_


End file.
